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or    ILLINOIS 


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THE  LIFE  OF 
FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 


BY 


ANNA  ADAMS  GORDON 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTIOX  BY 

LADY  HENRY  SOMERSET 


^l\f^ 


EVANSTON,  ILLINOIS 

NATIONAL  WOMAN'S  CHRISTIAN  TEMPERANCE  UNION 

1912 


Copyright  1912 

BY 

The  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union 


El)t  JLnkttitst  }^Ttss 

R.  R.  DONNELLEY  &  SONS  COMPANY 
CHICAGO 


i>  4n-  'U\^'  o^^'^' 


PREFACE 


As  the  sharer  of  the  intimate  life  of  Frances  E. 
Willard  for  more  than  a  score  of  her  heroic  years, 
it  is  at  once  a  pleasure  and  a  privilege  to  record  a 
few  of  the  memories  of  this  great  leader  who  made 
the  world  wider  for  women  and  more  homelike  for 
humanity.  In  this  sacred  task  the  co-operation  of 
Lady  Henry  Somerset,  Dr.  F.  W.  Gunsaulus,  Dr. 
Newell  Dwight  Hillis,  and  many  other  friends,  is 
gratefully  acknowledged. 

The  accompanying  biography  is  revised  and 
abridged  from  a  memorial  volume  issued  in  1898. 
Subsequent  honors  paid  to  her  sainted  memory,  the 
transient  character  of  much  of  the  material  formerly 
used,  the  demand  for  a  smaller  book  with  wider  per- 
spective of  this  life  as  unique  as  it  was  great,  and 
the  fact  that  there  is  within  the  reach  of  the  public, 
no  complete  record  of  one  of  America's  most  noble 
citizens — these  comprise  a  sufficient  reason  for  the 
appearance  of  this  work. 

Anna  A.  Gordon 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Introduction     by     Lady     Henry 

Somerset vii 

I.    Ancestry  and  Childhood        .      .  1 

II.    Student  Life 22 

III.  Religious  Development     ...  38 

IV.  The  Teacher 49 

V.    The  Traveler 67 

VI.     The  Organizer  and  Leader    .  83 
VII.    The  Organizer  and  Leader,  Con- 
tinued      100 

VIII.     "The  Home  Protection"  Address  118 

IX.    The  Defender  OF  Her  Faith  134 
X.    Founder  of  the  World's  Woman's 

Christian  Temperance  Union  152 

XL    A  Great  Mother 170 

XII.     In  the  Mother  Country  .      .      .  187 

XIII.  British  Institutions  and  Organ- 

izations          210 

XIV.  Answering  Armenia's  Cry      .      .  230 
XV.    Old  Haunts  and  Homes  Revisited  244 

XVI.    Translation 263 

V 


VI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

XVII. 
XVIII. 


Memorial  Services  .... 
In  Memory  of  a  Great  Life 

Presentation  of  Statue  to  United 
States  Congress — Addresses  of  Sena- 
ators  and  Representatives — Statue 
Poem. 

Tributes  by  Noted  Men:  Miss 
Willard  as  a  University  Woman  and 
Educator  —  Miss  Willard's  Public 
Life — Miss  Willard  as  a  Woman  and 
a  Friend  —  Miss  Willard  as  an  Ora- 
tor—  Frances  Willard's  Mission  and 
Message — A  Prophetess  of  Self-Re- 
nunciation — Transfigured. 


PAGE 

277 
295 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Frontispiece 

Birthplace,  Churchville,  New  York    .      .  ) 

Forest  Home ) 

Frances  and  Mary  Willard       ....  8 

Chapel,  Northwestern  University       .      .  28 

"My  Four" 40 

Portrait  at  Twenty-one  Years      ...  49 

Preceptress,  Lima  Seminary        ....  54 
Dean  of  Woman's  College,  Northwestern 

University 57 

Willard  Hall,  Northwestern  University  65 

Rest  Cottage 83 

President   National   Woman's   Christian 

Temperance  Union 100 

The  Den,  Rest  Cottage 116 

Founder    World's    Woman's    Christian 

Temperance  Union 152 

Statue 295 


INTRODUCTION 

LADY  HENRY  SOMERSET 

Frances  E.  Willard  is  the  greatest  woman 
philanthropist  of  our  generation.  I  do  not  hesitate 
at  the  use  of  this  word  "greatest."  I  am  persuaded 
that  when  the  annals  of  the  nineteenth  century  are 
written  and  the  record  of  the  modern  movement 
that  has  metamorphosed  the  position  of  woman 
comes  to  be  told,  her  name  will  stand  pre-eminent 
as  the  one  who  saw  with  a  keen  prophetic  eye  ahead 
of  her  time,  who  realized  the  dangers,  who  steered 
clear  of  the  rocks  and  shoals  that  beset  any  great 
change,  and  who  furnished  the  women,  not  only  of 
a  great  continent  but  the  world  over,  with  a  just 
realization  of  their  rightful  position,  by  her  safe- 
guarding gospel:  "Womanliness  first — afterward, 
what  you  will." 

The  temperance  cause  was  the  open  door  through 
which  she  entered  into  her  service  for  the  world. 
The  defense  of  woman,  her  uplift,  her  education  for 
the  widening  way,  was  the  task  she  set  herself  to 
accomplish.  But  to  no  special  cause  did  Frances 
Willard  belong;  her  life  was  the  property  of  hu- 
manity, and  I  believe  that  there  was  not  a  single 


X  INTRODUCTION 

cry  that  could  rise  from  the  world,  not  a  single 
wrong  that  could  be  redressed,  not  a  "wail  of 
weakness"  of  any  kind  that  did  not  find  an  im- 
mediate echo  in  her  heart,  that  did  not  call  her  to 
rise  and  go  forth  in  that  chivalric  strength  and  gen- 
tleness which,  in  the  battle  of  life,  have  clad  her  as 
with  a  holy  panoply. 

For  years  her  name  has  been  a  household  word 
among  all  those  who  work  for  the  uplift  of  humanity 
in  England;  and  I  well  remember  the  day  when  I 
first  received  a  letter  of  encouragement  and  cheer 
from  her,  words  so  sisterly  and  sympathetic  that  it 
seemed  as  though  a  new  light  had  shined  in  the 
darkness  and  difficulty  of  our  temperance  reform. 
In  that  letter  she  sent  me  a  little  knot  of  white 
ribbon,  and  all  these  years  that  little  bow  has 
been  pinned  into  my  Bible.  It  came  as  a  promise 
of  the  most  beautiful  friendship  that  ever  blessed 
any  life. 

Thinking  of  her  as  I  saw  her  in  the  fulness  of  her 
power  at  the  great  Boston  Convention,  in  1891, 
it  seems  to  me  that  no  other  will  ever  fill  the  place 
she  has  left  vacant,  for  to  no  other  could  be  given 
that  rare  combination  of  power  and  perfect  gentle- 
ness, of  playful  humor  and  tender  pathos,  that 
strange  mixture  of  reserve  with  an  almost  childlike 
confidence,  and,  above  all,  that  sublime  spirituality 
that  always  made  one  feel  how  near  she  was  to  the 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

invisible,  how  lightly  the  mantle  of  the  material  lay 
upon  her. 

She  came  to  us  in  England  in  the  summer  of  1892, 
bowed  with  grief  at  the  loss  of  the  mother  who  had 
been  the  strong  staff  of  her  life,  who  had  upheld  her 
through  her  work,  cheered  her  in  her  discourage- 
ments, pointed  her  onward  in  her  days  of  weariness. 
I  think  I  have  never  knowoi  a  human  soul  feel  sor- 
row so  acutely  as  did  this  daughter,  when  for  a  while 
a  cloud  hid  that  mother  from  her  sight.  It  was  like 
the  grieving  of  a  little  child  that  holds  out  its  hands 
in  the  dark  and  feels  in  vain  for  the  accustomed 
clasp  that  sent  it  happily  to  sleep.  She  was  wel- 
comed in  this  country  as  I  suppose  no  other  philan- 
thropist has  been  welcomed  in  our  time.  The  vast 
meeting  that  was  organized  to  greet  her  at  Exeter 
Hall  was  the  most  representative  that  has  ever 
assembled  in  that  historic  building;  and  certainly 
no  more  varied  gathering  of  philanthropists  could 
be  brought  together  with  one  object  than  met  there 
that  day.  On  the  platform  sat  members  of  Parlia- 
ment, dignitaries  of  our  own  church,  and  temper- 
ance leaders  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
leaders  of  the  Labor  movement  and  of  the  Salvation 
Army,  and  delegations  from  the  Methodist,  Baptist, 
and  Congregational  Churches,  and  the  Society  of 
Friends.  The  chief  Jewish  rabbi  sent  a  congratu- 
latory letter  and  signed  the  address  of  welcome, 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

which  was  also  signed  by  hundreds  of  local  branches 
of  the  British  Women's  Temperance  Association, 

"What  went  ye  out  for  to  see?"  was  the  question 
that  one  asked  one's  self  as  that  frail  form  stood  in 
the  midst  of  the  vast  assembly.  A  woman  called  of 
God;  a  woman  who  preached  Christ  in  politics, 
Christ  in  the  home,  the  equality  of  and  the  same 
standard  of  purity  for  men  and  women,  the  libera- 
tion of  the  oppressed,  the  destruction  of  legalized 
wrong,  the  upbuilding  of  all  that  was  great  in  home, 
in  government,  and  in  the  nation.  And  she  who 
had  gone  forth  without  money  and  without  influence, 
but  with  an  untarnished  name,  a  clear  brain,  an 
indomitable  will,  and  a  God-given  inspiration  had 
in  her  twenty  years  of  work  gathered  round  her,  not 
only  the  sympathies  of  her  own  land,  but  the  admira- 
tion and  good-will  of  the  whole  English-speaking 
race.  The  time  she  spent  in  England  was  a  tri- 
umphal procession,  and  greetings  awaited  her  in 
every  city  of  importance  throughout  the  whole  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The  Synod  Hall  in 
Edinburgh,  the  historic  temperance  town  of  Preston, 
DubUn  and  Glasgow,  vast  assemblies  in  the  Free 
Trade  Hall  in  Manchester,  packed  audiences  in 
Liverpool  and  Birmingham  —  all  vied  to  do  her 
honor;  and  wherever  she  went,  her  clear,  incisive 
thought,  the  pathos  and  power  of  her  words,  and, 
perhaps  most  of  all,  the  sweet,  gentle  woman,  won  the 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

heart  as  well  as  the  intellect  of  all  who  met  to  greet 
her  and  assembled  to  hear  her.  There  was  no  trait 
in  Miss  Willard's  character  that  was  more  prom- 
inent than  her  generous  power  of  help.  If  an  idea 
came  to  her,  she  had  no  thought  but  to  share  it  with 
her  fellow-workers.  Anything  that  she  had  said 
was  common  property,  anything  that  she  could  write 
might  bear  another's  signature;  to  help,  to  help  — 
this  was  her  only  thought;  for  she  was  inspired  by 
a  love  which  "seeketh  not  her  own,"  but  that  gave 
of  the  treasure  that  had  been  poured  into  her  life  as 
freely  as  the  sunshine  ripens  and  blesses  the  world. 

I  saw  a  saint  —  how  canst  thou  tell  that  he 

Thou  sawest  was  a  saint? 
I  saw  one  like  to  Christ  so  luminously 
By  patient  deeds  of  love,  his  mortal  taint 
Seemed  made  his  groundwork  for  humility. 

And  when  he  marked  me  downcast  utterly. 

Where  foul  I  sat  and  faint, 
Then  more  than  ever  Christ-like  kindled  he; 
And  welcomed  me  as  I  had  been  a  saint, 
Tenderly  stooping  low  to  comfort  me. 

Christ  bade  him,  "  Do  thou  likewise."     Wherefore  he 

Waxed  zealous  to  acquaint 
His  soul  with  sin  and  sorrow,  if  so  be 
He  might  retrieve  some  latent  saint : 
"Lo,  I,  with  the  child  God  hath  given  to  me!" 

—  Christina  Rossetti. 


Only   the  golden   rule   of  Christ  can    bring  the 
golden  age  of  man.  ^^ 


FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

CHAPTER   I 
ANCESTRY  AND  CHILDHOOD 

No  great  soul  appears  suddenly.  Mental  and 
moral  capital  are  investments  made  for  us  by  our 
forefathers.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  would  have  us 
think  that  the  child's  value  to  society  is  determined 
a  century  before  its  birth,  and  such  souls  as  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  and  James 
Russell  Lowell  go  far  to  prove  his  theory.  Cer- 
tainly, the  measure  of  greatness  in  a  man  or  a  woman 
is  often  decided  by  the  intellectual  and  ethical 
streams  flowing  down  from  the  ancestral  hills  into 
the  new  human  soul. 

Yet  in  every  great  soul  remains  something  that 
must  be  referred  to  God  only.  The  secret  of  great- 
ness may  be  in  part  ancestral,  but  the  gift  is  divine, 
the  source  of  genius  veiled  in  clouds  and  thick  dark- 
ness forever  eluding  the  seeker.  In  the  last  analysis 
we  may  only  say  that  it  is  God  who,  for  some  ap- 
pointed mission,  baptizes  a  soul  with  a  power  not 
its  own;  it  is  He  who  girds  the  man  or  the  woman 
for  the  life  task. 

1 


2  FRANCES  E.   WILLARD 

Miss  Willard's  father,  Josiah  Flint  Willard,  born 
in  Wheelock,  Vermont,  and  her  mother,  Mary 
Thompson  Hill  Willard,  a  native  of  Danville  in  the 
same  state,  fell  heir  to  all  the  best  qualities  of  the 
rich  soil  of  New  England,  and  they  in  turn  be- 
queathed their  united  treasure  to  the  daughter, 
whom  they  trained  for  her  career  as  teacher,  author, 
orator,  philanthropist,  and  social  reformer. 

Major  Simon  Willard,  of  Horsmonden,  Kent,  the 
first  Willard  to  settle  in  the  New  World  in  1634,  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  Concord,  Massachusetts — 
afterward  famous  as  the  home  of  Emerson,  Haw- 
thorne, Thoreau,  and  the  Alcotts — the  literary  center 
of  New  England.  Major  Willard  was  a  Puritan 
who  took  for  his  intellectual  motto,  "Truth  for 
authority,  not  authority  for  truth."  The  early 
history  of  Massachusetts  is  full  of  allusions  to  his 
many  and  varied  services  in  an  official  capacity,  all 
reflecting  high  honor  upon  his  character  as  a  man  of 
integrity,  ability,  and  energy.  "He  was  early 
called  into  positions  of  public  trust,  disciplined  by 
the  teachings  of  toil,  deprivation,  and  varied  ex- 
perience, and  had  the  confidence  and  affection  of  an 
enlightened  community  throughout  all  the  emer- 
gencies of  a  new  state."  Among  the  immediate 
descendants  of  this  rugged  and  righteous  ancestor 
are  two  presidents  of  Harvard  University,  also  Rev. 
Samuel  Willard,  pastor  of  the  Old  South  Church, 


ANCESTRY  AND   CHILDHOOD  3 

Boston,  who  opposed  the  hanging  of  the  witches, 
and  Solomon  Willard,  of  Quincy,  Massachusetts, 
the  architect  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  who  refused 
pay  for  his  services,  and  of  whom  Edward  Everett 
said,  "His  chief  characteristic  was  that  he  wanted 
to  do  everything  for  everybody  for  nothing."  Miss 
Willard's  great-grandfather.  Rev.  Elijah  Willard, 
was  for  forty  years  pastor  of  a  church  in  Dublin, 
near  Keene,  New  Hampshire,  and  he  served  as  chap- 
lain throughout  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Miss  Willard's  father  was  elegant  in  person,  and 
charming  in  manner.  He  was  devoutly  religious, 
endowed  with  a  fine  mind,  an  inflexible  will,  and  un- 
usual powers  of  thought  and  speech.  His  daughter 
Frances  further  described  him  as  "thoroughly  in- 
tellectual, an  insatiable  reader,  and  a  man  possess- 
ing exceedingly  fine  taste." 

Miss  Willard's  mother,  Mary  Thompson  Hill,  was 
of  New  England  stock  and  one  of  a  singularly  gifted 
family.  Her  grandfather  Hill  was  a  man  of  self- 
sacrificing  integrity,  as  is  averred  in  this  recorded 
incident:  "When,  early  in  his  career,  he  had  be- 
come security  for  a  friend  who  failed,  men  of 
good  conscience  came  to  him,  urging  that  a  man's 
family  was  a  'preferred  creditor'  in  all  business 
relations,  and  that  he  should  not  give  up  all  he  had 
to  satisfy  another  man's  creditors.  But  he  was  a 
man  of  clean  hands  —  swearing  to  his  own  hurt  and 


4  FRANCES  E.   WILLARD 

changing  not.  He  only  answered,  'It  is  the  nature 
of  a  bondsman  when  the  principal  fails  to  stand  in 
the  gap.'  And  he  stood  in  the  gap,  losing  all  his 
fortune  rather  than  fail  to  be  true  to  the  implied 
promise  of  his  bond." 

In  Mrs.  Willard's  maternal  grandfather,  Nathaniel 
Thompson,  of  Durham,  New  Hampshire,  we  find 
the  moral  courage  that  characterized  our  fearless 
reformer.  He  was  once  a  guest  at  a  dinner  where 
everyone  drank  the  health  of  the  tyrant  whom 
Americans  were  fighting,  each  saying  as  glasses  were 
clinked,  "King  George's  health,  and  it  shall  go 
round!"  Then  the  young  hero,  Nathaniel,  startled 
the  disloyal  Tories  by  crying  out,  "Washington's 
health,  and  it  shall  go  round!"  and  was  nothing 
daunted,  though  driven  from  the  room  and  in 
danger  of  his  life.  Her  father,  John  Hill,  was  a 
kind  of  moral  Hercules,  a  man  of  great  courage  and 
decision,  widely  known  for  his  democratic  principles 
and  his  deep  interest  in  all  those  agencies  that  were 
fitted  to  develop  the  intellectual  and  moral  forces  of 
the  community,  while  his  wife,  gentle  Polly  Thomp- 
son, possessing  a  character  described  as  "almost 
angelic,"  was  equally  well  known  for  her  zeal  for 
school,  college,  and  church. 

Scientists  tell  us  that  climate  affects  character; 
that  children  of  ease  and  abundance  in  the  tropics, 
without  tools,  without  books,  without  home,  church, 


|BES|H^^^|r]hj^^«  «,  ;^jSQL 

mSE 

i,  jj jBBBB^m^F^ 

151K1  IIIM.AC  i;,  {  IILK(HVI[>LH,  NI-.W  VOKK 


KOKEST  MO.MK 


ANCESTRY  AND  CHILDHOOD  5 

or  school,  are  the  children  of  lassitude  and  laziness; 
meanwhile  civilization  follows  the  belt  of  the  snow- 
drift, and  in  the  rigorous  warfare  with  winter, 
adversity,  poverty,  struggle,  man  develops  self- 
reliance,  hardihood,  courage  —  the  true  material 
for  intellectual  culture  and  moral  wealth.  And 
certain  it  is  that  the  oak  and  the  rock  of  the  New 
England  hills  seem  to  have  repeated  themselves  in 
the  iron  will  and  the  unyielding  courage  of  the  Wil- 
lard  family.  The  very  name  means  "one  who  wills," 
and  this  doubtless  explains  the  family  motto, 
"Gaudet  patientia  duris"  (Patience  rejoices  in  hard- 
ships). 

It  was  a  rarely  endowed  home  into  which  Frances 
Elizabeth  Willard  was  born  on  September  28,  1839, 
in  Churchville,  New  York,  a  home  sheltered  from 
adverse  chance  to  soul  or  to  body  by  the  father's 
strength  of  heart  and  arm  and  will;  with  the  mother- 
climate  warm  within,  winning  out  and  fostering  all 
wholesome  developments  —  a  richly  nurtured  child- 
garden,  where  the  sturdy  small  plants  struck  deep 
root  and  spread  wide  leafage  to  the  air,  catching 
every  drop  of  pure  knowledge  and  every  beam  of 
home-love  falling  within  its  rays.  Here  the  "rosy- 
white  flower  of  the  child's  consciousness  unfolded  its 
five-starred  cup  to  the  bending  blue  above."  Baby 
Frances  talked  before  she  could  walk,  "speaking 
quite  wisely  at  fourteen  months,"  but  not  until  she 


6  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

was  two  years  of  age  did  her  little  feet  begin  their 
world-wide  pilgrimage  in  obedience  to  the  dictates 
of  that  electric  brain  and  humanity-loving  heart. 

Seventy  years  ago  the  hegira  from  the  East  to  the 
West  was  still  in  progress.  The  rough  line  of  the 
pioneers,  the  sappers  and  miners  of  civilization,  had 
finished  their  task,  and  made  clear  paths  through 
the  wilderness  and  the  woods.  Then  everywhere, 
from  cultured  and  thoughtful  homes  in  the  East, 
the  exodus  began.  No  longer  was  the  going  forth 
by  individuals,  man  by  man,  each  fighting  for  his 
own  hand,  but  by  families,  friendly  and  allied.  The 
future  would  bring  to  them  new  outward  condi- 
tions, but  they  carried  the  means  and  appliances 
to  alter  them  to  their  will.  Indeed,  they  were  in 
themselves,  in  aptitude  and  skill  of  heart,  mind,  and 
hand,  the  mature  human  harvest  of  all  the  fulness 
of  the  past  —  that  human  harvest  which  is  at  once 
the  treasuring  or  garnering  up  of  the  old  and  the  seed 
of  the  new. 

In  this  onward  march  it  was  fitting  that  the  Wil- 
lards  should  have  their  place.  Reared  amid  the 
loveliest  surroundings,  royal  Americans  in  heart 
and  mind,  members  of  the  old  stone  church  which 
bore  the  simple  name,  "The  Church  of  God  in 
Ogden,"  and  which  recognized  no  lines  of  doctrinal 
difference  in  worship  and  life,  but  united  on  the 
ground  of  obedient  acknowledgment  of  the  Lord  and 


ANCESTRY  AND   CHILDHOOD  7 

His  Word,  it  was  no  wonder  that  in  the  providence  of 
God  these  two  were  sent  out  as  chosen  seed  for  the 
new  lands  of  the  West. 

Their  first  journey  overland  from  Churchvillc, 
New  York,  terminated  at  Oberlin,  Ohio,  where 
these  discerning  parents,  who  had  both  been  suc- 
cessful teachers  in  the  Empire  State,  invested  five 
years  of  student  life  at  the  college.  Here  the 
beloved  sister  Mary  was  born,  and  here  the  older 
children,  Oliver  and  Frances,  received  in  awe  and 
love  their  early  impress  of  the  ideas  of  religion  and 
scholarship.  The  ardent  desire  for  learning  which 
had  hitherto  led  the  parents  on  as  by  a  pillar  of 
fire,  changed  to  the  threatening  cloud  of  the  father's 
failing  health,  which  imperatively  demanded  the 
free  air  of  the  open  West  and  the  simplest  out-door 
life;  so  in  the  spring  of  1846  we  find  them  again 
"stepping  westward."  Three  of  the  quaint,  roomy, 
white-hooded  prairie  schooners,  which  were  then  the 
common  feature  of  Western  highways,  carried  the 
intrepid  family.  The  father  led  the  way.  The 
little  son,  ambitious  of  manhood,  with  gravely 
assumed  responsibility  guided  the  strong  and  gentle 
horses  which  pulled  the  second  vehicle  over  the 
smooth  prairie  miles  or  the  jolting  corduroy 
lengths  that  bridged  inconvenient  morasses.  The 
mother,  with  her  baby  girls  perched  safely  beside 
her,  in  the  fine   seat    father's    old-fashioned   desk 


8  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

made  when  it  was  properly  pillowed,  brought  up 
the  rear. 

They  passed  through  Chicago,  then  chiefly  notable 
as  the  possibility  of  a  future  city,  and,  continuing 
their  three  weeks'  journey,  save  the  Sunday  "rests," 
which  were  strictly  observed,  came  at  length  to  the 
banks  of  the  beautiful  Rock  River,  near  Janesville, 
Wisconsin,  about  fourteen  miles  from  Beloit. 
Here  they  stopped.  To  the  west  was  the  winding 
river,  serene  and  broad,  with  its  spacious  outlook  to 
the  setting  sun;  to  the  east,  the  illimitable  prairie, 
to  be  for  ages  green  with  the  springing  wheat,  yellow 
with  the  ripening  grain,  and  every  morning  glorified 
in  all  its  level  miles  by  the  streaming  light  and 
abundant  promise  of  the  sun  at  its  rising.  To  right 
and  left  the  wooded  hills,  like  softly  sheltering  arms, 
gathered  protectingly  around.  What  more  perfect 
place  for  a  new  home-nest ! 

"Forest  Home,"  a  picturesque  cottage,  with 
rambling  roof,  gables,  dormer-windows,  little 
porches,  crannies,  and  out-of-the-way  nooks,  was 
soon  built.  "  The  bluffs,  so  characteristic  of  Wiscon- 
sin, rose  about  it  on  the  right  and  the  left.  Groves 
of  oak  and  hickory  were  on  either  hand;  a  miniature 
forest  of  evergreens  almost  concealed  the  cottage 
from  the  view  of  passers-by;  the  Virginia  creeper 
twined  at  will  around  the  pillars  of  the  piazza  and 
over  the  parlor  windows,  while  its  rival,  the  Michigan 


FRANCES  AND  MARY  WILLARD 
(From  a  das'iierreotype  made  in  1847.    Shown  in  the  original  loel<et  frame) 


ANCESTRY  AND   CHILDHOOD  9 

rose,  clambered  over  the  trellis  and  the  balustrade  to 
the  roof.  The  air  was  laden  with  the  perfume  of 
flowers.  Through  the  thick  and  luxuriant  growth 
of  shrubbery  were  paths  which  strayed  ofT  aimlessly, 
tempting  the  feet  down  their  mysterious  aisles." 
Here  for  twelve  happy  years  the  Willard  children 
lived  an  idyllic  life  of  love  and  labor,  play  and  study, 
thought  and  prayer. 

Happy  the  mother  who  could  say  of  her  child, 
"She  was  affectionate,  confiding,  intuitive,  pre- 
cocious, original.  She  early  manifested  an  exceed- 
ing fondness  for  books.  She  believed  in  herself  and 
in  her  teachers.  Her  bias  toward  certain  studies 
and  pursuits  was  very  marked.  Even  in  the  privacy 
of  her  own  room  she  was  often  in  an  ecstasy  of  aspi- 
ration. She  strongly  repelled  occupations  not  to  her 
taste,  but  was  eager  to  grapple  with  principles, 
philosophies,  and  philanthropies,  and  was  unweary- 
ingly  industrious  along  her  favorite  lines." 

Happy  the  daughter  who  could  say  of  her  mother, 
"My  mother  held  that  nature's  standard  ought  to 
be  restored,  and  that  the  measure  of  each  human 
being's  endowment  was  the  only  reasonable  measure 
of  that  human  being's  sphere.  She  had  small 
patience  with  artificial  diagrams  placed  before  wom- 
en by  the  dictates  of  society  in  which  the  bound- 
aries of  their  especial  'sphere'  were  marked  out  for 
them,  and  one  of  her  favorite  phrases  was,  'Let  a 


10  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

girl  grow  as  a  tree  grows  —  according  to  its  own 
sweet  will.'  She  looked  at  the  mysteries  of  human 
progress  from  the  angle  of  vision  made  by  the  eyes 
of  both  the  man  and  the  woman,  and  foresaw  that 
the  mingling  of  justice  and  mercy  in  the  great 
decisions  that  affected  society  would  give  deliverance 
from  political  corruption  and  governmental  one- 
sidedness." 

Before  the  days  when  Froebel's  name  became 
familiar  to  the  tongue,  this  mother,  as  good  mothers 
always  have  done,  lived  with  her  children.  Their 
visitors  at  first  were  chiefly  chipmunks  and  birds. 
"I  had  many  ambitions,"  she  said,  "but  I  disap- 
peared from  the  world  that  I  might  reappear  at 
some  future  day  in  my  children."  They  made 
believe  the  country  was  a  city;  they  organized  a 
club  with  as  many  rules  as  a  parliamentary  manual, 
and  printed  a  newspaper  of  which  Frances  was  the 
editor,  to  say  nothing  of  "breaking  the  calf"  to 
circus  antics.  In  all  this  childish  activity  the 
mother  was  aider  and  abettor,  and  we  have  never 
learned  that  she  discouraged  that  marvelous  novel 
of  adventure,  four  hundred  pages  long,  written  by 
the  aspiring  Frances  as  she  sat  in  the  top  of  her 
favorite  old  oak,  where  she  needlessly  guarded 
herself  from  all  intruders  by  fastening  to  the  tree 
a  board  with  these  words  printed  upon  it  in  large 
letters : 


ANCESTRY  AND   CHILDHOOD         11 


THE    eagle's    nest BEWARE  ! 


While  the  mother  certainly  fostered  every  char- 
acteristic impulse  of  the  more  daring,  firmer-handed 
Frances,  she  did  not  fail  to  note,  encourage,  and  assist 
the  growth  of  Mary's  quieter  genius,  and  reward  its 
achievements  also  with  love  and  approbation.  "I 
do  not  know  which  of  us  she  loved  the  more.  I  do 
not  think  the  question  ever  occurred  to  us.  Each 
had  her  own  heaven  in  our  mother's  heart,"  said 
Frances,  years  afterward,  when  the  name  of  Mary 
and  the  life  motto  she  gave  to  Frances  with  her 
last  breath,  "Tell  everybody  to  be  good,"  had 
been  carved  for  many  a  year  on  the  headstone  at 
Rose  Hill.  "We  were  content,  and  oh,  how  we 
loved  one  another!" 

Amid  all  the  fun  and  frolic  and  endless  experi- 
ment in  activity,  there  was  much  solid  and  systema- 
tic study.  Before  the  time  when  the  little  brown 
schoolhouse  was  built  in  the  woods,  the  father 
arranged  a  study  room  in  the  house,  with  desks  and 
benches  made  by  his  own  hands.  The  mother 
gathered  in  some  neighbors'  children,  themselves 
without  other  advantages,  to  be  all  together  with 
her  own  brood,  under  her  own  eyes.  A  bright, 
charming,  accomplished  young  woman.  Miss  Anna 
Burdick,  just  from  the  East  and  Eastern  schools, 


12  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

came  daily,  and  was  a  loved  and  delightful  teacher. 
The  Institute  for  the  Blind,  located  not  far  away, 
gave  the  children  opportunities  for  musical 
training,  while  they  themselves,  in  the  establish- 
ment of  various  outdoor  clubs,  the  "Rustic"  and 
others,  continued  to  study  afield  what  they  had 
learned  in  books  of  botany  and  natural  history;  and 
the  exercises  of  the  "Studio,"  with  the  consequent 
sketching  trips,  carried  a  little  way  further  the 
art  instruction  Miss  Burdick  began.  In  art, 
however,  Mary  was  easily  first.  Frances  liked 
better  to  dream,  philosophize,  and  plan  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  beautiful  scene  than  to  patiently  draw 
it.  Her  part  consisted  chiefly  in  stating  the  "ob- 
jects," arranging  the  routes,  and  drafting  the  rules. 
These  rules  were  very  practical:  "If  one  member 
goes  off  alone,  he  shall  let  Margaret  Ryan  know  of 
it,  so  the  folks  needn't  be  scared."  "There  shall 
always  be  something  good  to  eat."  "We,  the  mem- 
bers of  this  club,  hereby  choose  Fred  as  our  dog, 
although  once  in  a  while  we  may  take  Carlo.  Carlo 
can  go  when  he  has  sense  enough."  This  club  was 
doubtless  the  one  having  for  its  object  "to  tell  what 
great  things  we  have  done  ourselves,  or  what  Oliver 
and  Loren  or  the  Hodge  boys  have,  or  Daniel  Boone, 
or  anj'body  else. " 

Great  frolics  were  enjoyed  in  Forest  Home,  and 
it  is  no  reflection  on  the  "Peace"  principles  dominat- 


ANCESTRY  AND   CHILDHOOD         13 

ing  her  later  life  that  here  Frances  was  the  ringleader 
in  the  exciting  "Indian  fights"  when  mother  and 
girls  tried  to  "hold  the  fort"  against  the  invading 
enemy  —  two  boys  and  a  dog !  Then  it  was  that 
Frances  as  Commanding-General,  issued  her  famous 
order  to  "have  ready  a  piece  of  sparerib  to  entice 
the  dog  away  from  those  two  dreadful  Indians!" 
and  so  weaken  the  forces  to  be  encountered  —  a 
piece  of  strategy  she  remembered  in  after  days  as 
possibly  applicable  to  politics. 

Forest  Home  always  had  its  "Fourth  of  July," 
celebrated  with  intense  enthusiasm.  "Thanksgiving 
was  passed  lightly  over  in  that  new  country  where 
there  were  no  absent  members  of  the  family  to  come 
home;  Christmas  found  stockings  hanging  up,  with 
but  little  in  them;  New  Year  hardly  counted  at 
all;  birthdays  cut  no  great  figure,  even  Washing- 
ton's going  for  almost  nothing,  but  the  Fourth 
of  July !  —  that  came  in,  went  on,  and  passed  out 
in  a  blaze  of  patriotic  glory.  This  does  not  mean 
fireworks,  though,  and  a  big  noise,  for  never  a 
cracker  or  a  torpedo  snapped  off  its  Yankee 
Doodle  'sentiments'  on  the  old  farm  in  all  the 
years.  The  children  had  no  money  to  spend,  but 
if  they  had  had,  it  would  not  have  been  allowed  to 
pass  away  in  smoke.  So  much  had  their  mother 
talked  to  them  about  America  that  their  native  land 
was  to  them  a  cherishing  mother,  like  their  own  in 


14  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

gentleness  and  strength,  only  having  so  many  more 
children,  grateful  and  glad,  under  her  thoughtful 
care.  They  loved  to  give  her  praises,  and  half  be- 
lieved that  some  time,  when  they  grew  big  enough 
and  got  out  into  the  wide,  wide  world,  they  should 
find  her  and  kneel  to  offer  her  their  loving  service 
and  to  ask  her  blessing. "  Nothing  could  be  more 
interesting  than  Miss  Willard's  graphic  description 
of  those  glorious  "Fourths,"  prophetic  of  the  tem- 
perance reform,  the  independence  of  women,  and 
the  bringing  of  the  home  spirit  into  all  the  world's 
affairs;  "for  when  temperance  triumphs,"  she  was 
wont  to  say,  "there  will  be  no  drinking  on  the 
Fourth;  when  women  march  in  the  procession  there 
will  be  no  powder;  when  father,  mother,  and  the 
children  have  equal  part  in  the  great  celebration  it 
will  be  very  peaceable  and  more  an  affair  of  the  heart 
than  of  the  lungs." 

We  are  told  on  the  best  authority  that  the  only 
piece  of  sewing  Frances  Willard  ever  attempted  with- 
out complaint  was  when  she  helped  make  a  flag  for 
the  patriotic  procession  the  children  had  planned 
for  one  of  these  great  days.  To  be  sure,  this  flag 
was  only  an  old  pillow  case  with  red  calico  stripes 
sewed  on  and  gilt  paper  stars  pinned  in  the  corner, 
and  they  hfted  it  up  on  a  broomstick  (again  a  bit 
of  prophecy,  mayhap),  but  it  was  their  country's 
flag,  and  Oliver,  who  marched  proudly  at  the  head 


ANCESTRY  AND  CHILDHOOD         15 

of  the  procession,  flag  in  hand,  was  gallant  enough 
to  say  to  Frances  when  half  tlie  distance  agreed 
upon  had  been  traversed,  "Wouldn't  you  like  to 
carry  the  flag  half  the  time?"  Frances  tells  us  she 
was  not  at  all  backward  about  coming  forward  in 
that  kind  of  business,  and  that  her  father  and  mother 
laughed  heartily  when  she  changed  the  order  of  ex- 
ercises by  saying,  "That  'Yankee  Doodle'  we  were 
playing  does  not  go  very  well;  let  us  try  'Forever 
Float'!"  so  they  all  joined  in  singing  as  she  held 
the  flag: 

"Forever  float  that  standard  sheet 

Where  breathes  the  foe  but  falls  before  us. 
With  freedom's  soil  beneath  our  feet, 
^  And  freedom's  banner  streaming  o'er  us." 

Frances  slyly  whispered  to  her  sister  Mary,  "That's 
a  clear  case  of  We,  Us  and  Company;  why  can't  it 
always  stay  so?" 

Mary's  neatly  written  journal  gives  a  glimpse  of 
those  halcyon  days : 

Frank  said  we  might  as  well  have  a  ship,  if  we  did 
live  on  shore;  so  we  took  a  hencoop  pointed  at  the 
top,  put  a  big  plank  across  it  and  stood  up,  one  at 
each  end,  with  an  old  rake  handle  apiece  to  steer 
with;  up  and  down  we  went,  slow  when  it  was  a  calm 
sea  and  fast  when  there  was  a  storm,  until  the  old 
hen  clucked  and  the  chickens  all  ran  in,  and  we  had 
a  lively  time.  Frank  was  captain  and  I  was  mate. 
We  made  out  charts  of  the  sea  and  rules  about  how 


16  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

to  navigate  when  it  was  good  weather,  and  how  when 
it  was  bad.  We  put  up  a  sail  made  of  an  old  sheet 
and  had  great  fun,  until  I  fell  off  and  hurt  me. 

To-day  Frank  gave  me  half  her  dog  Frisk,  that 
she  bought  lately,  and  for  her  pay  I  made  a  promise 
which  mother  witnessed  and  here  it  is : 

"I,  Mary  Willard,  promise  never  to  touch  any- 
thing lying  or  being  upon  Frank  Willard 's  writing 
desk  which  father  gave  her.  I  promise  never  to 
ask,  either  by  speaking,  writing  or  singing,  or  in  any 
other  way,  any  person  or  body  to  take  off  or  put  on 
anything  on  said  stand  and  desk  without  special 
permission  from  said  F.  W.  I  promise  never  to 
touch  anything  which  may  be  in  something  upon 
her  stand  and  desk;  I  promise  never  to  put  anything 
on  it  or  in  anything  on  it;  I  promise  if  I  am  writing 
or  doing  anything  else  at  her  desk  to  go  away  the 
minute  she  tells  me.  If  I  break  this  promise  I  will 
let  the  said  F.  W.  come  into  my  room  and  go  to  my 
trunk  or  go  into  any  place  where  I  keep  my  things 
and  take  anything  of  mine  she  likes.  All  this  I 
promise,  unless  entirely  different  arrangements  are 
made.  These  things  I  promise  upon  my  most 
sacred  honor." 

From  "Frank's"  journal  of  the  same  period  we 
quote  her  first  poem,  composed  in  her  tenth  year, 
which  proves  afresh  that  the  thoughts  of  youth 
"are  long,  long  thoughts": 

"Am  I  almost  of  age,  am  I  almost  of  age? 
Said  a  poor  little  girl,  as  she  glanced  from  her  cage. 
How  long  will  it  be 
Before  I  shall  be  free 


ANCESTRY  AND   CHILDHOOD         17 

And  not  fear  friend  or  foe? 
If  I  somewhere  could  go 
And  I  some  folks  could  know, 
I'd  not  want  to  '  be  of  age ' 
But  remain  in  my  cage." 

In  the  last  winter  of  her  free  life  we  find  her  still 
singing  of  "captivity"  in  a  dainty  bit  of  verse 
addressed  to  a  snowbird: 

«  «  *  *  4:  * 

"  Dear  little  bird  with  glancing  wing. 
Did  you  but  know  I  long  to  fly. 
Perhaps  you'd  sit  quite  near  and  sing 
To  me  in  my  captivity. 
"Dear  human  heart,  be  not  afraid; 

Thy  need  of  food,  thy  dream  of  flight. 
He  knows,  by  whom  the  worlds  were  made— 
To  speed  thee  on  is  His  delight." 

They  anticipated  the  societies  of  our  day  for  the 
protection  of  dumb  animals  —  these  *'out-doorsy" 
little  people,  as  the  same  journal  tells  us: 

One  day  when  we  girls  were  having  our  good  times 
down  by  the  river  the  three  Hodge  boys  came  along 
hunting  for  birds'  nests.  "But  you  mustn't  carry 
any  away,"  said  Mary,  greatly  stirred.  "You  may 
climb  the  trees  and  look,  if  you  want  to  see  the  eggs 
or  little  ones,  but  you  can't  hurt  a  birdie,  big  or 
little,  in  our  pasture. "  The  boys  said  their  mother 
told  them  the  same  thing  and  they  only  wanted  to 
look.  So  Mary  and  I  showed  them  under  the  leafy 
covert  some  of  the  brown  thrushes'  housekeeping, 
and  the  robins',  too,  and  told  them  they  were  nice, 
kind  boys. 


18  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

Brotherhood  and  sisterhood  meant  much  in  the 
Willard  household.  The  liveliest  stories  are  told 
about  the  comradeship  of  Frances  and  Oliver.  They 
were  up  to  no  end  of  jolly  times  together.  If  he 
liked  better  to  play  "Fort"  and  she  to  play  "City," 
that  was  no  reason  they  should  be  divided  in  their 
play.  She  played  "Fort"  with  him,  entering  into 
his  imagination  of  it  with  cordiality  and  swing,  and 
played  it  gloriously.  He  played  "City"  with  her, 
assisting  her  "in  consideration  of  the  resources  of 
the  corporation."  Brother  and  sister  thus  mutually 
annexed  each  other's  land,  and  became  richer  by 
the  resources  in  liking  and  faculty  of  both. 

"A  boy  whose  sister  knows  everything  he  does 
will  be  far  more  modest,  genial,  and  pleasant  to  have 
about,"  Frances  once  said;  then,  smiling  quietly, 
she  added,  "and  it  will  be  a  great  improvement  to 
the  sister  also."  Doubtless  she  regarded  this  com- 
merce between  the  lands  of  brother  and  sister,  of 
man  and  woman;  this  association,  not  of  bodily 
presence  only,  such  as  takes  place  around  every 
breakfast  table,  but  a  true  association  of  minds; 
this  unselfish  and  unstinted  entrance  of  one  nature 
into  the  feeling,  thought,  and  activity  of  another 
for  a  little  space,  like  a  journey  into  a  neighboring 
country,  from  which  a  wise  traveler  comes  back 
laden  with  riches  for  his  own  —  all  this  doubtless 
she  regarded  soberly  as  a  "wider  education"  for 


ANCESTRY  AND   CHILDHOOD         19 

women.  It  was  certainly  one  of  the  powerful  and 
enlarging  influences  which  made  Frances  Willard  a 
great  woman.  It  is  a  fascinating  study  to  see  how 
in  that  early  day  many  after-greatnesses  put  forth 
their  first  leaves.  She  was  a  born  organizer,  which 
only  means  she  w^as  magnificently  a  woman,  for  is 
not  woman  the  born  organizer  of  creation?  She 
early  discovered  that  "usefulness  of  association," 
and  in  numerous  preambles  drawn  up  when  she  could 
scarcely  write  "straight"  she  called  attention  to  it. 
In  the  self -derived  charter  of  "Fort  City"  we  find 
announced:  "We  will  have  no  saloons  or  billiard 
halls,  and  then  we  will  not  need  any  jails"  —  a 
somewhat  rash  and  girlish  generalization,  for  the 
devil  can  sow  tares  in  human  nature,  even  though 
whisky-soaked  ground  should  fail  him. 

Frances  learned  to  read  from  "The  Slave's 
Friend,"  thus  early  imbibing  from  her  abolition 
parents  the  sentiments  that  swept  through  her  soul 
in  the  succeeding  years,  making  her  ever  the  friend 
of  the  negro  race,  and  giving  birth  to  a  phrase  in  one 
of  her  prophetic  mottoes:  "No  sect  in  religion,  no 
sex  in  citizenship,  no  sectionalism  in  politics." 

The  children  early  signed  the  total  abstinence 
pledge  inscribed  in  the  old  family  Bible,  where  the 
names  of  the  father  and  the  mother  preceded  the 
childish  autographs.  This  was  the  pledge,  and  we 
hope  that  many  a  child-reader  of  this  old-fashioned 


20  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

iron-clad  promise  will  here  and  now  aflSx  his  name  to 
the  same  noble  resolution : 

"A  pledge  we  make,  no  wine  to  take. 
Nor  brandy  red  that  turns  the  head. 
Nor  fiery  rum  that  ruins  home. 
Nor  whisky  hot  that  makes  the  sot. 
Nor  brewers*  beer,  for  that  we  fear. 
And  cider,  too,  will  never  do; 
To  quench  our  thirst  we'll  always  bring 
Cold  water  from  the  well  or  spring. 
So  here  we  pledge  perpetual  hate 
To  all  that  can  intoxicate." 

Fifty  years  after  Miss  Willard  had  signed  this 
pledge,  she  composed  one  especially  for  her  boy 
friends,  which  is  here  transcribed  in  sacred  memory 
of  their  elder  sister 's  love  and  prayerful  expectation 
for  the  boys  and  girls  of  this  and  future  generations : 

Pledge  for  Boys 
"  I  pledge  my  brain  God's  thoughts  to  think. 
My  lips  no  fire  or  foam  to  drink 
From  alcoholic  cup. 

Nor  link  with  my  pure  breath  tobacco's  taint. 
For  have  I  not  a  right  to  be 
As  wholesome,  pure,  and  free  as  she 
Who  through  the  years,  so  glad  and  free. 
Moves  gently  onward  to  meet  me? 
A  knight  of  the  new  chivalry 
For  Christ  and  Temperance  I  would  be." 

The  home  Frances  Willard  was  to  find  in  millions 
of  hearts  was  wistfully  foreshadowed  when  she  stood 
in  the  doorway  of  the  old  barn  at  Forest  Home  "that 
lonesome  day  in  early  spring."     She  tells  us  it  was 


ANCESTRY  AND   CHILDHOOD         21 

gray  with  fog  and  moist  with  rain.  It  was  Sunday, 
there  was  no  church  to  attend,  and  the  time  stretched 
out  before  her  long  and  desolate.  "She  cried  out 
in  querulous  tones  to  the  two  who  shared  her  every 
thought,  'I  wonder  if  we  shall  ever  know  anything, 
see  anybody,  or  go  anywhere?'  'Why  do  you  wish 
to  go  away?'  asked  sweet  little  Mary,  with  her 
reassuring  smile.  'Oh,  we  must  learn — must  grow, 
and  must  achieve;  it  is  such  a  big  world  that  if  we 
don't  begin  at  it  we  shall  never  catch  up  with  the 
rest.'"  Dear  little  eagles  in  their  "eagle's  nest!" 
They  were  growing  their  wings  for  future  flights  all 
through  those  lovely  years. 

"It  was  a  beautiful  childhood,"  Miss  Willard  said, 
years  later.  "I  do  not  know  how  it  could  have  been 
more  beautiful,  or  how  there  could  have  been  a  truer 
beginning  of  many  things.  To  me,  it  has  often 
seemed  as  if  those  earlier  years  were  '  seed  to  all  my 
after  good.'  "     Then  she  repeated  softly  to  herself: 

'"Long  years  have  left  their  writing  on  my  brow, 
But  yet  the  freshness  and  the  dew-fed  beam 
Of  those  young  mornings  are  about  me  now.' 

"  I  thank  Thee,  O  bountiful  God,  that  I  have  so 
much  of  happiness,  of  quiet  enjoyment,  to  remember. 
I  thank  Thee  that  I  have  not  forgotten,  cannot  forget. 
I  thank  Thee  that  wherever  I  may  dwell,  no  place 
can  be  so  dear,  so  completely  embalmed  in  my 
heart,  so  truly  the  best  beloved  of  all  to  me  as 
'Forest  Home'." 


CHAPTER   II 

STUDENT  LIFE 

When  Frances  Willard  was  fourteen,  her  father 
and  a  neighbor  bestirred  themselves  for  their  chil- 
dren's sake,  and  the  little  brown  schoolhouse  was 
built  in  the  wood,  about  a  mile  away.  It  was  the 
simplest  of  district  schoolhouses,  plain  and  inviting, 
Frances  says,  "a  bit  of  a  building  under  the  trees 
on  the  river  bank.  It  looked  like  a  natural  growth, 
a  sort  of  big  ground-nut.  The  pine  desks  were 
ranged  around  the  wall,  the  boys  on  one  side,  the 
girls  on  the  other,  and  a  real  live  graduate  from  Yale 
was  teacher."  "There  will  be  lots  of  rules,"  said 
Oliver  to  his  sisters,  the  evening  before  their  first 
real  school  day  opened.  "Never  mind,"  responded 
Frances.  "It  will  be  a  pleasant  change  to  have  some 
rules  and  live  up  to  them." 

In  this  school  the  sisters  had  ten  months  of  bright, 
inspiring  instruction  keyed  to  high  ideals  for  heart 
and  head.  We  can  hear  the  ardent  child  Frances 
leading  in  rich  contralto  tones  the  favorite  song  with 
which  they  made  "the  rafters  ring": 

"Now  to  heaven  our  prayer  ascending, 
God  speed  the  right! 
In  a  noble  cause  contending, 
God  speed  the  right!" 

22 


STUDENT  LIFE  23 

With  these  school  days  came  an  enlarged  social 
outlook  for  the  young  recluses  whose  home  play- 
mates heretofore  had  scarcely  been  other  than  broth- 
er and  sister,  father  and  mother.  In  addition  to 
some  odd  volumes  of  travel  and  biography,  the  books 
they  had  thus  far  studied  were  the  Bible,  "Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  and  Shakespeare.  Shakespeare  was  a 
"most  wise  instructor,"  and  certain  it  is  that  before 
she  was  fifteen  the  eager  girl  had  read,  reread,  and 
commented  upon  all  his  plays.  No  modern  "pre- 
liminaries" could  have  given  her  such  an  equipment 
for  entering  school. 

But  now  the  brother  at  college  began  to  collect 
his  library.  Great  was  the  revelry  when  he  brought 
home  the  Bohn  translation  of  the  classics  —  Plato, 
Epictetus,  Marcus  Aurelius,  "Don  Quixote,"  which 
the  young  folks  read  aloud;  the  "Imitation  of 
Christ,"  which  grew  dear  to  Frances'  heart,  and 
many  another  treasure.  The  vacations  became,  in 
their  new  occupation  with  books,  scarcely  less  stimu- 
lating intellectually  than  were  the  school  days. 

In  her  fifteenth  year  Frances  made  a  trip  to  the 
old  homestead  in  the  East,  and  was  much  impressed 
by  her  father's  witty  old  mother  and  her  grand- 
father Hill,  a  man  powerful  in  religious  life  and 
greatly  gifted  in  prayer.  On  her  return,  both  the 
sisters  began  to  attend  a  select  school  in  Janesville, 
and  here  Frances'  incipient  skill  as  a  journalist  was 


24  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

called  forth  in  the  remarkable  way  in  which  she 
edited  the  school  paper. 

A  great  opportunity  was  presented  in  a  summer 
visit  in  the  home  of  Southern  friends  who  had  driven 
from  Georgia  to  Wisconsin  in  their  own  carriage  for 
the  sake  of  pleasure  and  health.  Owners  and  teach- 
ers of  a  ladies'  school  at  home,  elegant  and  cultured 
people,  it  was  the  greatest  event  thus  far  in  the  lives 
of  these  forest  nymphs  to  go  six  miles  from  home  to 
spend  several  weeks  studying  with  these  friends  in 
their  rural  retreat,  and  for  the  first  time  to  sleep  out 
from  under  the  old  home  roof.  "The  all-overish  feel- 
ing of  loneliness"  was  conquered  by  the  thought  of 
how  much  they  would  know  when  the  separation 
was  over,  and  they  were  soon  devoted  to  their  gifted 
teachers.  Here  Frances  made  her  first  acquaintance 
with  the  Bronte  novels  —  at  least  half  through 
"  Villette."  Her  father,  coming  upon  her  with  it  in 
her  hands,  shut  the  book  and  briefly  remarked  to 
her  instructor,  "Never  let  my  daughter  see  that 
book  again,  if  you  please,  madam." 

The  daughter  religiously  respected  her  father's 
prohibition  regarding  the  book,  and,  as  years  passed, 
learned  how  much  she  owed  to  "the  firm  hand  that 
held  her  impetuous  nature  from  a  too  early  knowl- 
edge of  the  unreal  world  of  romance." 

At  Forest  Home,  Frances  won  her  first  spurs  as  a 
writer.    The  Prairie  Farmer  having  offered  a  prize 


STUDENT  LIFE  25 

for  the  best  essay  on  the  embellishment  of  a  country 
home,  Mrs.  Willard,  who  forbade  her  children  no 
harmless  thing  along  the  line  of  their  impulses,  en- 
couraged her  daughter  to  compete;  her  father  con- 
tributed a  suggestion  about  the  planting  of  ever- 
greens, and  the  fateful  manuscript  was  dispatched. 
Great  was  the  glee  when  in  return  for  the  effort  came 
a  beautiful  cup  and  a  note  of  congratulation. 

In  1857,  Frances  and  Mary  were  students  in  the 
Milwaukee  Female  College,  where  their  aunt.  Miss 
Sarah  Hill  (Mrs.  Willard's  youngest  sister),  was 
Professor  of  History.  Frances,  then  seventeen, 
found  in  this  aunt  her  intellectual  guide.  The  moral 
atmosphere  of  the  school  was  excellent;  there  was 
the  finest  honor  among  the  girls;  they  were  expected, 
and  expected  themselves,  to  be  ladies,  careful  schol- 
ars and  obedient  to  the  rules.  Here  the  young  girl 
found  a  charming  circle  of  friends,  true  companions, 
with  whom  she  stood  in  the  heartiest,  healthiest, 
most  helpful  relation.  Here  she  found  also  the 
beautiful  "Marion,"  bright  particular  star  of  those 
years,  whom  she  so  loved  that  she  writes:  "I  never 
rested  until,  like  her,  I  also  heard  *ten  —  ten,' 
meaning  perfect  in  conduct  and  scholarship,  read 
out  after  my  name  each  week."  As  Macdonald  says, 
"Love  loves  to  wear  the  livery  of  the  beloved." 
On  "Examination  Day"  Frances  read  an  essay  on 
"Originality  of  Thought  and  Action,"  winning  the 


26  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

applause  of  the  audience,  including  father  and 
mother,  the  exercises  receiving  an  additional  flavor 
for  this  young  author  when  a  charming  poem  of 
hers,  almost  her  first  effort  in  that  line,  was  read  by 
a  young  girl  friend.  And  writes  truthful  Frances, 
"I  was  downright  sorry  to  go  home." 

The  speedy  popularity  of  the  Willard  girls  with 
both  teachers  and  pupils  rested  upon  no  less  sound  a 
basis  than  what  they  were  in  themselves  and  what 
they  could  do.  Certainly  none  of  it  depended  upon 
the  possession  of  what  people  called  "means."  Ab- 
solutely all  the  spending  money  they  had  for  three 
months  was  the  fifty  cents  which  Irish  Mike,  the 
farm  hand,  sent  the  two  girls.  After  careful  consul- 
tation, Frances  invested  hers  in  a  ticket  to  the  me- 
nagerie, a  blank  book  to  write  essays  in,  and  pepper- 
mint candy,  which  list  of  expenditures  makes  us 
love  her  for  the  unspoiled  humanness  of  it.  It  was 
this  same  Irish  Mike  who,  years  after,  when  Miss 
Willard  was  struggling  in  the  political  prohibition 
arena,  sent  word: 

"That  lady  and  her  folks  were  good  to  me  when 
I  was  a  green  boy  from  the  old  country,  and  now  the 
lady  hasn't  a  vote  to  bless  herself  with;  but  me  and 
my  boys  will  put  in  three  for  her.  And  I  thought  I 
would  write  and  tell  you.     Respect.     Mike  Carey." 

The  little  blank  book  lies  on  the  table  before  me. 
It  bears  a  dashing  autograph  on  the  first  page,  and 


STUDENT   LIFE  27 

above  it,  written  by  that  rememberful  hand  many 
years  later,  is  this  explanatory  note:  "Mike  Carey 
sent  Mary  and  me  fifty  cents  between  us  when  we 
were  pupils  at  Milwaukee,  and  out  of  mine  this  book 
was  bought  —  all  the  money  of  that  sort  we  had  in 
the  three  months'  term." 

Frances  celebrated  the  arrival  of  her  eighteenth 
birthday  by  writing  the  following: 

I  am  eighteen. 

I  have  been  obedient. 
Not  that  the  yoke  was  heavy  to  be  borne. 
For  lighter  ne'er  did  parents  fond 

Impose  on  child. 

It  was  a  silver  chain. 

But  the  bright  adjective 
Takes  not  away  the  clanking  sound ! 

The  clock  has  struck! 
I'm  free!   Come,  joy  profound! 

I'm  alone  and  free  — 

Free  to  obey  Jehovah  only. 
Accountable  but  to  the  powers  above! 

Then  she  took  "Ivanhoe,"  seated  herself  on  the 
porch,  and  began  to  read  with  calm  satisfaction. 
Her  father  chanced  up  the  steps.  "What  have  you 
there?"  "One  of  Scott's  novels."  "Have  I  not 
forbidden  you  to  read  any  novels?"  "You  forget 
what  day  it  is,  Father."  "What  difference  does  the 
day  make  in  the  deed?"  "A  great  deal.  I  am 
eighteen  to-day,  and  I  do  not  have  to  obey  any  laws 
but  those   of   God   hereafter.     In   my  judgment. 


28  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

'Ivanhoe'  is  good  to  be  read."  The  amazed  father 
was  for  half  an  instant  minded  to  take  away  the  book 
by  force.  Then  he  laughed,  called  her  mother,  and 
the  two  contemplated  this  woman-child  of  theirs. 
At  length  he  said,  seriously:  "She  is  evidently  a 
chip  of  the  Puritan  block.  That  was  an  old-fash- 
ioned Protestant  declaration  of  independence.  Well, 
we  will  try  to  learn  God's  laws  and  obey  them  to- 
gether, my  child." 

The  two  sisters  had  been  looking  forward  to  fur- 
ther study  in  Milwaukee,  but  their  Methodist  father 
desired  a  more  strictly  sectarian  school  for  his  chil- 
dren, and  selected  the  Northwestern  Female  College 
at  Evanston,  Illinois,  where,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
spring  term  in  1858,  when  Frances  was  in  her  nine- 
teenth year,  they  entered  as  pupils.  At  Evanston, 
as  at  Milwaukee,  "Frank"  (as  she  was  always  called) 
was  soon  an  acknowledged  leader  in  scholarship  and 
school  activities.  But  at  Evanston  the  girls  were 
smiled  at  for  the  first  time  because  of  their  simple 
dress;  this  gave  occasion  to  the  last  overt  manifesta- 
tion of  Frank's  fighting  powers  in  an  incident  which 
still  lives  in  Evanston  tradition.  Their  father  al- 
ways had  the  whim  of  giving  his  personal  care  to 
the  purchase  of  his  daughters'  wardrobe,  taking 
counsel  only  of  his  own  taste.  So  he  sent  to  each  of 
the  girls  a  red  worsted  hood  for  her  winter  wear. 
Now,  a  red  worsted  hood  might  be  charming  on  the 


CHAI'KL.  NORTHWKSIERN  INIVERSITY 


STUDENT  LIFE  29 

head  of  Mary,  but  to  Frances,  with  her  Titian  hair, 
it  was  far  from  becoming.  She  hated  it  with  a 
"hatred  and  a  half,"  she  says,  and  the  girls  guyed 
her  unmercifully  about  the  plain  homespun  thing. 
One  of  them,  a  tall,  handsome  creature,  guyed  her 
once  too  often  as  she  was  putting  it  on.  Frank 
turned  on  her,  threw  her  down,  crumpled  her  up 
under  a  desk,  and  walked  off  defiantly  tying  the 
strings  of  that  despised  hood.  Hood  or  no  hood, 
there  was  no  discounting  the  position  she  soon  ac- 
quired in  school.  She  was  a  power,  rejoicing  in 
nothing  so  much  as  taking  the  initiative.  A  reckless 
spirit,  full  of  adventure,  does  some  one  say?  No,  a 
great  nature  unfolding  itself,  finding  and  testing  its 
own  powers.  A  strong  will,  full  both  of  audacity  and 
control,  yet  with  such  a  beautiful  habit  of  confidence 
toward  her  mother  that  she  saj^s,  "I  could  scarcely 
tell  where  her  thought  ended  and  mine  began." 

In  spite  of  the  revelations  of  her  all-producing 
journal  during  her  student  life,  Frances  Willard  as 
a  young  woman  must  have  possessed  a  rare  and 
exquisite  beauty.  One  who  first  met  her  at  the 
Evanston  College  writes:  "My  interest  was  ex- 
cited by  the  golden-haired  young  woman,  Frank 
Willard.  I  saw  she  was  younger  than  any  of  the 
women  about  her,  and  she  then  looked  far  younger 
than  she  was.  I  was  attracted  by  her  apparent  youth 
and  by  the  vivid  expression  of  her  absorbed  and  at- 


30  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

tentive  face."  Speaking  forty  years  later,  this  friend 
says  of  her:  "The  same  vivid,  indescribable  light 
was  in  her  face,  grown  more  delicate  and  illusive; 
it  was  as  if  all  the  years  had  subtly  refined  and  en- 
riched that  precious  and  fragrant  substance,  the  oil 
of  the  life-lamp." 

Sundry  notes  in  Miss  Willard's  journal  during  her 
college  days  are  self -revealing.  "Dr.  Foster  closed 
the  Bible,  after  his  discourse  at  the  University  chapel 
yesterday,  with  these  words:  'Brothers,  with  most 
men  life  is  a  failure.'  The  words  impressed  me  deep- 
ly; there  is  sorrow  in  the  thought,  tears  and  agony 
are  wrapped  up  in  it.  O  Thou  who  rulest  above, 
help  me  that  my  life  may  be  valuable,  that  some 
human  being  shall  yet  thank  Thee  that  I  have  lived 
and  toiled!  .  .  .  . "  Of  the  hero  of  a  book  she 
remarks:  "He  is  a  noble  character,  but  he  weeps  too 
much,  and  I  do  not  like  his  ideas  about  a  wife  obey- 
ing her  husband  —  that  I  scout  wherever  I  see  it." 
In  those  days,  she  often  had  almost  a  cramp  of  self- 
consciousness  in  company  at  all  strange  to  her,  or 
under  unaccustomed  conditions,  and  in  her  journal 
she  likens  herself  to  Charles  Lamb,  who  outside  his 
immediate  circle  was  not  himself,  neither  natural 
nor  at  ease.  "Perhaps,"  she  says,  "that  is  why  I 
like  books  so  much;  they  never  frighten  me.  How- 
ever," she  continues,  addressing  herself,  "as  you 
have  begun  to  think  much  on  this  subject,  probably 


STUDENT  LIFE  31 

by  and  by  your  manner  will  assume  of  itself  that 
half-cordial,  half-dignified  character  that  accords 
best  with  your  nature." 

Her  ambitions  grew  definite:  "I  thought  that 
next  to  a  wish  I  had  to  be  a  saint  some  day,  I  really 
would  like  to  be  a  politician." 


"Professor  detained  me  after  devotions  this 
morning,  and  with  his  most  'engaging'  smile  made 
this  announcement:  'By  vote  of  your  teachers  you 
are  appointed  valedictorian.'  I  was  glad,  of  course; 
'tis  like  human  nature.  To  others  it  will  seem  a 
small  thing;  it  is  not  so  to  me." 


"I  am  more  interested  in  the  'Memoirs  of  Marga- 
ret Fuller  Ossoli'  than  in  any  other  book  I  have  read 
for  years.  Here  we  see  what  a  woman  achieved  for 
herself.  Not  so  much  fame  or  honor,  these  are  of 
minor  importance,  but  a  whole  character,  a  culti- 
vated intellect,  right  judgment,  self-knowledge,  self- 
happiness.     If  she,  why  not  we,  by  steady  toil.''" 


"Everything  humbles  me,  but  two  things  in  the 
highest  degree.  One  is  to  stand  in  a  large  library, 
the  other  to  study  astronomy.  In  both  cases  I  not 
only  see  how  much  there  is  to  be  known,  how  insig- 
nificant my  knowledge  is,  but  I  see  how  atomic  I  am, 
compared  with  other  human  beings.     Astronomers 


32  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

'think  God's  thoughts  after  him.'  Alas,  I  can 
hardly  think  their  thoughts  after  them,  when  all  is 
clearly  represented  I" 

Mrs.  Mary  Bannister  Willard,  her  closest  heart- 
friend  among  college  mates  and  later  her  beloved 
sister-in-law,  paints  this  charming  picture  of  Miss 
"W'illard's  wit  and  wisdom  during  her  schoolgirl  days : 

None  of  the  pupils  who  attended  the  Northwestern 
Female  College  in  the  spring  term  of  1858  will  fail 
to  recall  the  impressions  made  by  two  young  girls 
from  Wisconsin  on  their  entrance  upon  this  new 
school  life.  Mary,  with  her  sweet,  delicate  face, 
winning,  almost  confidential  manner,  and  earnest, 
honest  purpose,  conquered  the  hearts  of  teachers 
and  pupils  at  once.  Schoolgirls  are  a  conservative 
body,  reserving  favorable  judgment  till  beauty, 
kindliness,  or  fine  scholarship  compels  their  admira- 
tion. Frances  was  at  first  thought  proud,  haughty, 
independent  —  all  cardinal  sins  in  schoolgirl  codes. 
The  shyness  or  timidity  which  she  concealed  only  too 
successfully  under  a  mask  of  indifference  gave  the 
impression  that  she  really  -^"ished  to  stand  aloof  from 
her  mates.  When  it  came  to  recitations,  however, 
all  shyness  and  apparent  indifference  melted  awaj'. 
The  enthusiasm  for  knowledge  and  excellence  shone 
from  the  young  girl's  face  on  all  these  occasions. 
After  "class"  her  schoolmates  gathered  in  groups  in 
corridor  and  chapel,  and  discussed  her  perforce 
favorably.  "My I  can't  she  recite.^  Look  out  for 
your  laurels  now,  Kate  I"  "The  new  girl  beats  us 
aU, "  —  these  were  the  ejaculations   that   testified 


STUDENT   LIFE  33 

of  honest  schoolgirl  opinion,  and  prophesied  her 
speedy  and  sure  success.  In  a  few  weeks  she  was 
editor  of  the  college  paper,  and  leader  of  all  the  in- 
tellectual forces  among  the  students.  She  was  in  no 
sense,  however,  an  intellectual  "prig."  None  of  us 
was  more  given  over  to  a  safe  kind  of  fun  and  frolic; 
she  was  an  inventor  of  sport,  and  her  ingenuity 
devised  many  an  amusement  which  was  not  all 
amusement,  but  which  involved  considerable  ex- 
ercise of  wit  and  intelligence  —  and  our  beloved 
"Professor"  (William  P.  Jones)  soon  found  that  he 
could  always  rely  upon  her  influence  in  the  school 
to  counteract  the  tendency  to  silly  escapades  and 
moonlight  walks  with  the  "University  boys."  A 
young  man  would  have  been  temerity  itself  who 
would  have  suggested  such  a  thing  to  her.  In  fact, 
she  came  to  be  something  of  a  "beau"  herself  — 
a  certain  dashing  recklessness  about  her  having  as 
much  fascination  for  the  average  schoolgirl  as  if  she 
had  been  a  senior  in  the  University,  instead  of  the 
carefully-dressed,  neatly-gloved  young  lady  who 
took  the  highest  credit  marks  in  recitation,  but  was 
known  in  the  privacy  of  one  or  two  of  the  girls' 
rooms  to  assume  the  "airs"  of  a  bandit,  flourish 
an  imaginary  sword,  and  converse  in  a  daring, 
slashing  way,  supposed  to  be  known  only  among 
pirates  with  their  fellows. 


Study  did  not  end  with  the  abandonment  of  the 
classroom,  but,  as  she  had  planned,  went  on  in  new 
forms,  and  with  the  intent  and  intensity  of  original 
research.     Her  schoolmates,  when  they  visited  her 


S4  FRANCES   E.  WILL-VRD 

in  her  quiet  little  room,  with  its  bright  south  and 
east  windows  brimming  the  cosy  nook  with  warm 
sun^une,  foimd  h&  always  at  her  desk  with  books, 
paper  and  prai,  for  with  her  independent  mind,  the 
thou^ts  and  investigations  of  others  were  not  propn 
€fty  her  own  until  she  had  fixed  them  in  the  mold  of 
perscmal  judgment,  and  phrased  them  in  the  f orce- 
fol  language  of  her  own  opinions. 

While  socielnr,  or  the  superficial  intercourse  known 
by  this  name,  had  little  charm  for  this  studious 
yoong  wmnan,  whose  keen  spirit  soon  pierced  its 
di^oises  and  rated  it  at  its  real  value,  to  her  journal 
she  philosophized  about  it  in  this  wise: 

"As  I  gain  in  exj)erience.  I  see  more  and  more 
distinctfy  that  a  young  lady  to  be  of  value  in  society 
most  have  accomplishments.  That  august  tyrant 
asks  eveiy  candidate  for  preferment  in  its  ranks: 
'  What  can  you  do  for  me  ?  Can  you  tell  me  a  story, 
make  me  a  joke,  or  sing  me  a  song?  I  am  to  be 
amused!'  Society  is  not  for  scholarly  discipline. 
Stndy  is  for  private  life.  Benefactions,  loves,  hates, 
emfdnments,  business  —  all  these  go  on  behind  the 
scenes.  Men  grow  learned,  and  good,  and  great 
otherwhoe  than  in  society.  They  ponder,  and 
delve,  and  discover  in  secret  places.  Women  suffer 
and  grow  nncomplaining  Ln  toil  and  sacrifice,  and 
learn  that  life's  grandest  lesson  is  summed  up  in  four 
ample  words  —  '  Let  us  l>e  patient '  —  in  the  nooks 
and  comers  of  the  earth.     Into  society  they  may 


STUDENT  LIFE  35 

bring  not  their  labors,  but  the  fruit  of  their  labors. 
Public  opinion,  which  is  the  mouthpiece  of  society, 
asks  not  of  any  man :  '  When  did  you  do  this,  where 
did  you  accompHsh  it?'  but,  'What  have  you  done? 
We  do  not  care  for  the  process,  give  us  the  results.' 
"Society  is  to  everyday  life  what  recess  is  to  the 
schoolboy.  If  it  has  been  crowded  from  this,  its 
right  relation,  then  it  is  for  every  right-thinking 
member  to  aid  in  the  restoration  to  its  true  position. 
Let  no  cynical  philosopher  inveigh  against  society. 
Let  none  say  its  fruits  are  simply  heartlessness  and 
hypocrisy.  Man  is  a  creature  of  habits ;  when  among 
his  fellows,  he  does  his  best  studiously  at  first,  un- 
thinkingly afterward.  I  will  venture  to  assert  that 
the  man  who  was  greater  than  any  other  who  walked 
the  earth  was  the  kindest,  the  best  bred,  the  most 
polite.  Society  is  not  an  incidental,  unimportant 
affair;  it  is  the  outward  sign  of  an  inward  grace.  Let 
us,  then,  if  we  can,  be  graceful;  cultivate  conversa- 
tional ability,  musical  talent;  improve  our  manners 
—  and  our  beauty,  if  we  are  blessed  with  it.  Har- 
monious sounds  cheer  the  heart.  Fitness  is  ad- 
mirable. All  these  are  means  of  happiness  to  us 
who  have  sorrow  enough  at  best.  It  is  no  light  thing 
to  perform  the  duties  we  owe  to  society,  and  it  is 
better  to  approximate  than  to  ignore  them." 

In  the  vacation  summer  of  1858,  on  returning 
from  Evanston,  Frances  took  possession  of  the  little 


36  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

schoolhouse  near  Forest  Home,  and  for  six  weeks, 
with  great  comfort  and  pleasure,  carried  on  the 
school  herself.  Early  in  the  autumn  the  Willard 
family  removed  to  Evanston.  Tenants  were  placed 
in  charge  of  their  beloved  Forest  Home,  and 
"Swampscott"  became  their  residence  —  a  pleasant 
place  near  the  lake,  the  large  grounds  of  which  were 
Mr.  Willard's  pride  and  pleasure,  as  he  saw  them, 
under  his  skillful  management,  growing  constantly 
more  beautiful,  Nearly  every  tree  and  vine  was 
set  with  his  own  hands,  often  assisted  by  Frank, 
and  all  were  imported  from  Forest  Home. 

The  life  of  the  home  was  a  very  bright  and  merry 
one  at  this  time,  for  the  three  children  were  all  to- 
gether, all  earnestly  at  work,  but  all  as  uniquely  bent 
on  enjoyment  as  ever  they  had  been  in  the  old  de- 
lightful days  of  Forest  Home.  Oliver,  having 
finished  his  college  studies,  was  preparing  for  the 
ministry;  Mary  was  joyfully  nearing  her  own  gradua- 
tion day  —  full  of  enthusiasm  for  knowledge,  for 
happiness,  for  all  the  real  values  of  life.  Frances, 
alone  at  home,  deep  in  a  young  girl's  philosophy  of 
existence,  was  nevertheless  as  fond  of  a  romp,  a 
joke,  and  a  good  time  as  any  girl  to-day  of  the  par- 
ticular fun  and  frolic  that  young  people  nowadays 
engage  in.  Deeply  envious  of  the  brothers  and 
friends  who  were  so  fond  of  their  college  fraternity, 
and  so  tantalizing  with  their  half-displayed  secrets, 
the  girls  of  1859  and  1860,  an  exceptionally  bright 
and  clever  company,  organized  a  secret  society  of 
their  own,  in  which  Frances  and  Mary  were  among 
the  deepest  plotters.     Since  Greek  letters  were  in 


STUDENT  LIFE  37 

order,  ours  was  the  "Iota  Omega"  fraternity,  or 
sorority;  dark  and  dreadful  were  its  ceremonies, 
grave  and  momentous  its  secrets.  It  was  not  al- 
lowed to  degenerate,  however,  into  anything  worse 
than  autograph  hunting,  an3  even  in  these  early 
days  of  that  nuisance,  we  received  some  sharp  rep- 
rimands for  our  importunity.  Horace  Greeley  par- 
ticularly berated  us  in  a  long  letter,  which,  fortu- 
nately, we  could  not  entirely  decipher,  and  which  was 
so  wretchedly  illegible  that  we  could  exhibit  it  to 
envious  Sigma  Chi  brothers  without  fear  of  taunt 
or  ridicule.  Abraham  Lincoln  gave  his  friendly 
"sign  manual,"  Longfellow  wrote  out  a  verse  of 
"Excelsior"  for  the  collection,  but  Queen  Victoria, 
alas!  to  whom  we  had  applied  in  a  letter  addressed 
"Victoria, 

Buckingham  Palace, 
London, 

England,  The  World," 
never  deigned  us  a  reply. 

Taking  Miss  Willard's  student  life  all  in  all,  we 
find  her  brave  and  modest,  merry  and  wise,  winsome, 
gentle,  generous  and  good,  gracious  in  her  dignity, 
dainty  in  attire,  superb  in  her  friendliness,  and  so 
excellent  in  her  scholarship  that  she  was  made  vale- 
dictorian of  her  class. 


CHAPTER  III 

RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

As  a  lisping  child  Frances  learned  the  mighty  first 
chapter  of  St.  John's  Gospel  from  her  mother's 
lips.  It  was  the  first  lesson  she  ever  learned  by 
heart.  Then  came  the  rocking-chair  lullaby  in  her 
father's  deep  tones: 

"A  charge  to  keep  I  have, 
A  God  to  glorify, 
A  never-dying  soul  to  save 
And  fit  it  for  the  sky. 

"To  serve  the  present  age. 
My  calling  to  fulfill. 
Oh,  may  it  all  my  powers  engage 
To  do  my  Master's  will." 

A  prophetic  hymn,  this  first  one  ever  taught  the 
young  warrior  soul,  whose  "charge"  and  whose 
"calling"  far  outran  the  boundary  of  her  father's 
conserving  thought.  Then  followed  the  old  Bible 
stories,  delightful  to  a  child,  yet  stored  with  the 
sacred  history  of  the  soul.  Somewhat  later,  "Pil- 
grim's Progress"  became  the  vade  mecum  and 
"Greatheart"  her  chosen  knight. 

Among  Miss  Willard's  treasures  long  and  care- 
ss 


RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT  39 

fully  guarded  was  found  a  little  book  bearing  the 
title,  "Memoir  of  Nathan  Dickerraan,"  probably 
the  first  memorial  biography  on  which  her  childish 
eyes  rested.  On  the  fly-leaf  is  written,  "Read  on 
the  long,  lonesome  Sundays  at  Forest  Home  in  my 
childhood.  I  remember  a  delicate,  exquisite  odor 
that  adhered  to  the  book  from  its  relation  some- 
where with  a  sweet  and  pervasive  perfume  so  that 
I  early  got  the  notion  of  fragrance  and  religion  as 
inseparable. " 

The  Forest  Home  trio  were  early  trained  to  "deeds 
of  week-day  holiness."  The  lonesomeness  of  the 
long  Sundays  was  occasionally  brightened  by  a  drive 
to  church,  or,  when  there  was  no  service  to  attend, 
how  humanly  sweet,  simple,  and  sacred  the  Sabbath 
of  the  home  was  made !  In  the  morning  the  stately 
father  walked  to  the  riverside  among  the  sentinel 
trees,  his  little  girls  stepping  proudly  beside  him, 
and  his  grave  voice  carrying  to  their  young  minds 
and  hearts  the  vibrations  of  the  great  and  devout 
thoughts  of  the  race.  In  the  afternoon,  as  Miss 
Willard's  hallowed  memory  pictures  it  to  us,  "there 
were  walks  with  mother,  when  she  clipped  a  sprig  of 
caraway  or  fennel  for  Mary  and  me  or  a  bunch  of 
sweet-smelling  pinks  for  Oliver  from  the  pretty  little 
beds  in  the  heart  of  the  orchard,  where  no  one  was  pri- 
vileged to  go  except  with  mother.  Here  she  talked 
to  us  of  God's  great  beauty  in  the  thoughts  He 


40  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

works  out  for  us;  she  taught  us  tenderness  toward 
every  Httle  sweet-faced  flower  and  piping  bird;  she 
showed  us  the  shapes  of  clouds  and  what  resem- 
blances they  bore  to  things  upon  the  earth;  she  made 
us  love  the  Heart  that  is  at  Nature's  heart.  When 
one  of  us  was  afraid  of  the  dark  and  came  to  mother 
with  the  question  'Why?'  she  replied,  'Because  you 
do  not  know  and  trust  God  enough  yet;  just  once 
get  it  into  your  heart  as  well  as  your  head  that  the 
world  lies  in  God 's  arms  like  a  babe  on  its  mother 's 
breast,  and  you  will  never  be  afraid  of  anything.'  " 
A  loving  aunt,  long  years  a  teacher,  visited  the 
home,  and  leading  the  children  out  under  the  far-off 
stars  at  night,  made  them  forevermore  familiar  with 
the  flaming  belt  of  Orion  and  the  clustering  Pleiades, 
quoting  reverently  lofty  passages  from  the  Bible 
about  the  starry  heavens;  while  Frances,  looking 
upward  from  the  vantage  ground  of  the  wide  prairie, 
would  repeat,  almost  with  tears,  the  lines  from 
Addison  taught  her  by  her  mother: 

The  spacious  firmament  on  high 
And  all  the  blue  ethereal  sky. 
With  spangled  heavens,  a  shining  frame. 
Their  Great  Original  proclaim; 
The  unwearied  sun,  from  day  to  day 
Doth  his  Creator's  power  display, 
And  publishes  to  every  land 
The  work  of  an  Almighty  hand. 

"O    sacred    Sabbaths    of    our    childhood!      O 
early  mornings  in  the  spring,  when  we  ran  together 


"MY  FOLK" 


RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT  41 

through  the  dewy  grass  or  laid  our  ears  to  the  brown 
bosom  of  the  earth  to  hear  her  vibrant  breathing, 
to  thrill  at  her  pulsing  heart!  O  birds  that  sang 
for  me,  and  flowers  that  bloomed,  and  mother-love 
that  brooded  and  father-love  that  held !  And  God 's 
sky  over  all,  and  Himself  near  unto  us  everywhere; 
yea,  nearer  than  near!  Surely  heavenly  and  with- 
out end  are  the  blessings  of  the  Lord  to  children! 
Verily,  His  goodness  and  His  mercy  are  with  us  all 
our  days."  So  sang  the  heart  of  Frances  Willard 
in  its  ripe  womanhood  when  moved  by  the  recurring 
touch  of  those  years. 

Miss  Willard 's  enjoyment  of  the  Sunday  twilight 
hour  of  song  dated  back  to  Forest  Home  when 
"Guide  me,  O  Thou  Great  Jehovah,"  or  Kirke 
White's  "Star  of  Bethlehem"  used  to  melt  the 
heart  of  the  child,  even  then  conscious  of  the  struggle 
between  natural  resistance  to  religious  influence  and 
the  love  that  yields  itself  in  submission  to  God. 

If  she  were  slow  in  growing  to  the  harmonies  of 
adult  womanhood,  when  heart,  mind,  and  life  are  in 
unison,  she  developed  constantly  toward  them. 
Perhaps  she  would  never  have  been  the  effective 
character  she  became,  without  her  positive  and 
somewhat  turbulent  temper.  "If  I  stubbed  my  toe 
against  anything,  it  was  prompt  instinct  within  me 
to  turn  again  and  rend  that  thing."  "  If  I  remember 
rightly,"  she  said,  "our  ancient  brother  Xerxes  fur- 
nished several  such  entertaining  incidents  to  his- 


42  FRANXES   E.  WILLIRD 

ton.'."  But  even  in  her  warlike  moods  she  was  like 
a  wholesome  spring  day.  Its  breeze  may  get  things 
disarranged  a  trifle,  but  there  is  plenty  of  ox\-gen. 

As  the  first  flame  of  youth  began  to  kindle  in  the 
cheeks  and  eyes  of  this  reticent  yet  ambitious  girl, 
she  coveted  such  wealth  of  beauty  as  she  saw  in  other 
faces  and  wept  with  discontent  at  what  she  consider- 
ed her  own  modest  competence  of  loveliness.  Her 
mother  tenderly  comforted  her  in  mother  fashion, 
but  added:  "Grandfather  Hill  was  the  noblest 
looking  man  I  ever  saw,  and  you  are  very  like  him, 
my  dear."  Thereupon  the  active  little  girl  instantly 
resolved  to  be  ven-  "noble  looking,"'  and  that  she 
might  be  quite  complete  and  admirable,  resolved 
to  be  very  noble  feeling  also,  a  resolution  she  cer- 
tainly Hved  up  to,  although  not  until  the  impulse 
from  which  it  sprang  was  tempered  by  many  years 
of  God's  grace. 

"I  am  afraid  it  almost  turned  a  rather  innocent 
outward  vanity  into  an  inward  pride,  much  more 
difficult  to  get  rid  of,"  she  afterward  said.  "As  for 
my  brother's  kindly  speech,  'Xever  mind,  Frank, 
if  you  are  not  the  handsomest  girl  in  school,  you 
are  the  smartest,'  I  nearly  made  a  prig  of  myself 
over  it,  becaase,  as  Watson's  Dr.  Johnson  would 
say,  '  I  was  not  without  a  modest  consciousness  that 
it  was  true.'  It  was  the  old  story  of  the  rag  doll 
over  again.     'She's  a  rag  doll  —  only  she's  good, 


RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  43 

and  not  proud  like  a  wax  doll.'  And  it  makes  me 
laugh  even  now  to  think  how  simply  and  naturally 
in  all  our  play  'organizations,'  the  chief  incentive, 
reward,  and  honor  of  the  leading  officer's  position 
was  a  right  to  have  the  'say  so.'  "  It  made  one 
smile  tenderly  sometimes  to  note  the  way  in  which, 
in  quiet  hours,  she  was  inclined  to  deplore,  as  a  half 
sin,  all  this  development  of  the  "selfhood"  which 
yet  gives  edge,  strength,  and  practical  force  to  our 
abilities  in  this  wayward  and  work-a-day  world. 

How  blessed  she  was  in  her  mother-confidant, 
that  wise  woman  who  knew  that  the  storm  and 
stress  period  of  youth  is  normally  inevitable,  that 
the  natural  will  must  get  its  natural  growth  and 
training  before  there  is  any  truly  individual  will  to 
be  submitted  to  God  or  to  bend  its  force  to  God 's 
service.  She  was  not  a  woman  of  fears.  If  she  had 
any  she  kept  them  to  herself  and  shared  her  courage 
with  her  daughter.  She  only  told  the  Lord,  know- 
ing He  was  in  the  heart  of  her  child,  to  will  and  to 
do  of  His  good  pleasure. 

A  passage  from  Miss  Willard's  journal  when  a 
teacher  at  twenty-four  reveals  the  questioning  soul 
seeking  after  the  truth  of  an  eternal  existence: 

Two  letters  have  been  received  from  two  poet- 
souled  women  in  obscure  life,  and  for  the  time  they 
have  transfigured  me.  Full  of  insight  they  were, 
for  these  women  love  much  and  read  the  significance 


44  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

of  destiny  by  clear  burning  tapers  lighted  at  the 
altar  of  consecration  to  their  homes.  I  have  read 
of  the  French  Revolution  and  Charlotte  Corday, 
and  the  Unknown  and  Invisible  has  risen  before  me, 
misty  and  dark,  as  I  wonder  what  vision  burst  on 
the  freed  soul  of  that  marvelous  girl  as  she  lay  on 
the  plank  of  the  scaffold  and  "the  beam  dropped, 
the  blade  glided,  the  head  fell."  I  have  listened 
to  the  Bible  reading  at  our  quiet  chapel  prayers,  and 
have  pondered  much  over  Job 's  words,  "  Why  should 
a  man  contend  against  God.^"  and  as  I  thought,  my 
soul  went  out  after  Him,  this  awful,  overwhelming 
Power  that  holds  all  things  in  equilibrium,  and  has 
come  back  again  with  some  dim,  shuddering  con- 
sciousness that  He  is,  and  some  sweet  faith  that  "He 
is  a  re  warder  of  all  such  as  diligently  seek  him."  I 
have  looked  at  my  pliant,  active  fingers  and  wonder- 
ed over  this  strange  imparted  force  that  is  ordained 
to  live  a  while  in  me,  that  joins  itself  in  some  weird 
way  to  muscle,  sinew,  tissue,  and  bone;  that  filters 
through  my  nerves  and  makes  all  things  alive,  among 
them  the  organic  shape  that  is  called  me.  I  wish  I 
could  talk  to-night  with  some  one  who  would  say, 
with  quick,  emphatic  gesture,  "Yes,  I  understand; 
I  have  felt  so  too."  "Be  Caesar  to  thyself."  The 
words  are  brave,  but  to-night  I  am  too  tired  to  say 
them  truly,  and  so  I  will  pray  to  God  and  go  to 
sleep. 

It  was  during  the  leisure  of  convalescence  from  the 
serious  illness  that  prevented  her  presence  at  the 
graduating  exercises  of  her  class,  that  Frances 
Willard's   first   affirmative   turning   toward   a   re- 


RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT  45 

Hgious  life  began,  and  it  began  very  simply.     These 
"hidden  things  of  the  heart"  are  best  told  by  herself. 

GOD    AND    MY    HEART 

It  was  one  night  in  June,  1859.  I  was  nineteen 
years  old  and  was  lying  on  my  bed  in  my  home  at 
Evanston,  Illinois,  ill  with  typhoid  fever.  The 
doctor  had  said  that  the  crisis  would  soon  arrive, 
and  I  had  overheard  his  words.  Mother  was  watch- 
ing in  the  next  room.  My  whole  soul  was  intent 
as  two  voices  seemed  to  speak  within  me,  one  of 
them  saying,  "  My  child,  give  me  thy  heart.  I  called 
thee  long  by  joy,  I  call  thee  now  by  chastisement; 
but  I  have  called  thee  always  and  only  because  I 
love  thee  with  an  everlasting  love."  The  other 
said,  "Surely,  you  who  are  so  resolute  and  strong 
will  not  break  down  now  because  of  physical  feeble- 
ness. You  are  a  reasoner  and  never  yet  were  you 
convinced  of  the  reasonableness  of  Christianity. 
Hold  out  now  and  you  will  feel  when  you  get  well 
just  as  you  used  to  feel." 

One  presence  was  to  me  warm,  sunny,  safe,  with 
an  impression  as  of  snowy  wings ;  the  other  cold,  dis- 
mal, dark,  with  the  flutter  of  a  bat.  The  con- 
troversy did  not  seem  brief;  in  my  weakness  such 
a  strain  would  doubtless  appear  longer  than  it  was. 
But  at  last,  solemnly,  and  with  my  whole  heart,  I 
said,  not  in  spoken  words,  but  in  the  deeper  lan- 
guage of  consciousness,  "If  God  lets  me  get  well 
I'll  try  to  be  a  Christian  girl."  But  this  resolve 
did  not  bring  peace.  "You  must  at  once  declare 
this  resolution,"  said  the  inward  voice.  Strange 
as  it  seems,  and  complete  as  had  always  been  my 


46  FRANCES   E.  WILL.VRD 

frankness  to'srard  my  ciear  mother,  far  beyond  what 
is  osual  eveai  between  mother  and  diild,  it  cost  me  a 
greater  hwmhlmg  ci  my  fmde  to  tell  her  than  the 
resoliitiaB  had  cost  of  seUsamnder,  or  than  any 
other  atteruKe  of  my  whcJe  life  has  inTudved. 
After  a  hard  battle,  in  which  I  lifted  op  my  sool  to 
God  for  strength,  I  faintly  caOed  to  her  from  the 
nest  room  and  said:  ^Mother,  I  wish  to  teO  you 
that  if  God  lets  me  gi^  well  I'll  tzy  to  be  a  Christian 
ffd.'^  She  tocJc  my  hand,  knelt  beade  my  bed,  and 
softi^  ««pi  and  prayed.  I  then  tamed  my  face  to 
the  wafl  and  sweetfy  slef»t. 

That  winter  we  had  revival  services  id  the  old 
Methodist  dmrch  at  Evanston.  Doctor  (afterward 
Bishop)  Foster  was  jMesadent  ci  the  oniversity,  and 
his  wt  nmmts,  with  those  of  Doctcxs  Dempster, 
Bannister,  and  others,  deeply  stined  my  heart.  I 
had  oanvalesced  slowly  and  spent  several  weds  at 
Forest  Home,  so  these  meetings  seemed  to  be  my 
first  pohfic  opportonity  of  dedaiing  my  new  alle- 
gtaiMy-  The  very  earliest  invitation  to  go  forward, 
kneel  at  the  ahar,  and  be  prayed  for  was  heeded  bv 
me.  Waiting  far  no  one,  ooonseiing  with  no  or^  r.  I 
went  alone  akmg  the  aisle  with  my  heart  beating  so 
ImmI  that  I  thooglit  I  ooold  see  as  well  as  hear  it  beat 
as  I  moiled  forward.  One  of  the  most  timid,  shrink- 
n^  and  seiiMtifc^  of  natnres,  what  it  meant  to  me  to 
go  forward  thus,  with  my  student  friends  gazing 
^lOB  me,  can  never  be  fxdd.  I  had  been  known  as 
"skeptical,''  and  prayers  (of  which  I  then  spoke 
fi^ftly)  had  been  asked  for  me  in  the  church  the 
year  before.  For  foorteen  nights  in  soooessicm  I 
thas  knelt  at  the  altar,  expecting  some  otter  trans- 


RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  47 

formation  —  some  portion  of  heaven  to  be  placed 
in  my  inmost  heart,  as  I  have  seen  the  box  of  valu- 
ables placed  in  the  corner-stone  of  a  building  and 
firmly  set,  plastered  over,  and  fixed  in  its  place  for- 
ever. This  is  what  I  had  determined  must  be  done, 
and  was  loath  to  give  it  up.  I  prayed  and  agonized, 
but  what  I  sought  did  not  occur. 

One  night  when  I  returned  to  my  room  baffled, 
weary,  and  discouraged,  and  knelt  beside  my  bed, 
it  came  to  me  quietly  that  this  was  not  the  way; 
that  my  "conversion,"  my  "turning  about,"  my 
"religious  experience"  (re-ligare,  to  bind  again), 
had  reached  its  crisis  on  that  summer  night  when  I 
said  "yes  "  to  God.  A  quiet  certitude  of  this  pervad- 
ed my  consciousness,  and  the  next  night  I  told  the 
public  congregation  so,  gave  my  name  to  the  church 
as  a  probationer,  and  after  holding  this  relation  for 
a  year  —  waiting  for  my  sister  Mary,  who  joined 
later,  to  pass  her  six  months'  probation  —  I  was 
baptized  and  joined  the  church.  May  5,  1861,  "in 
full  connection."  Meanwhile  I  had  regularly  led, 
since  that  memorable  June,  a  prayerful  life  —  which 
I  had  not  done  for  some  months  previous  to  that 
time;  studied  my  Bible,  and,  as  I  believe,  evinced 
by  my  daily  life  that  I  was  taking  counsel  of  the 
heavenly  powers.  Prayer  meeting,  class  meeting, 
and  church  services  were  most  pleasant  to  me,  and 
I  became  an  active  worker,  seeking  to  lead  others 
to  Christ.  I  had  learned  to  think  of  and  believe 
in  God  in  terms  of  Christ  Jesus.  This  had  always 
been  my  difficulty,  as  I  believe  it  is  that  of  so  many. 
It  seems  to  me  that  by  nature  all  spiritually  disposed 
people  (and  with  the  exception  of  about  six  months 


48  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

of  my  life,  I  was  always  strongly  that)  are  Unitarians, 
and  my  chief  mental  difficulty  has  always  been,  and 
is  to-day  after  all  these  years,  to  adjust  myself  to 
the  idea  of  "Three  in  one"  and  "One  in  three." 
But  while  I  will  not  judge  others,  there  is  for  me  no 
final  rest  except  as  I  translate  the  concept  of  God 
into  the  nomenclature  and  personality  of  the  New 
Testament,  What  Paul  says  of  Christ  is  what  I 
say;  the  love  John  felt,  it  is  my  dearest  wish  to 
cherish. 

In  her  ripest  years  she  wrote  from  the  rich  full- 
ness of  knowledge  and  experience:  "The  Life  of 
God  flowing  into  the  soul  of  man  is  the  only  Life, 
and  all  my  being  sets  toward  Him  as  the  rivers  to 
the  sea.  Celestial  things  grow  dearer  to  me  every 
day,  and  I  grow  poorer  in  my  own  eyes  save  as  God 
gives  to  me.  I  still  care  a  little  too  much  for  the 
good  words  of  the  good,  but  God  helps  me  even  in 
that. " 

How  Christlike  she  became  the  whole  world 
knows.  How  great  she  grew  in  gentleness,  how 
simple  in  prayer,  how  trustfully  she  waited  upon 
the  Lord,  whose  grace  all  her  childhood  through 
was  touching  her  fine  spirit  to  the  finest  issues  of 
her  future  life !  And  at  the  last,  when  God  for  many 
years  had  had  His  will  and  way  with  her,  how  the 
whole  self-nature  became  the  obedient  servant  of 
her  inward  humility  toward  Him,  and  her  outgoing 
helpfulness  to  men.  The  "  good  words  of  the  good  " 
are  forever  abundantly  hers. 


PORTRAIT  AT  TWENTY-ONE  YEARS 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  TEACHER 

It  was  at  Forest  Home  where  all  her  young 
ambitions  were  born  that  Frances,  recuperating 
from  the  illness  of  her  graduation  year,  determined 
to  teach.  Few  other  paths  were  then  open  to 
adventurous  spirits  among  women,  and  even  this 
course  was  strongly  deprecated  by  Miss  Willard's 
father,  while  he  must  have  admired  his  own  force 
of  character  as  shown  in  his  child's  outcry  for 
independence  at  whatever  cost.  "I  have  not  yet 
been  out  in  the  world  to  do  and  dare  for  myself," 
she  argued.  "Single-handed  and  alone  I  should  like 
to  try  my  powers,  for  I  have  remained  in  the  nest  a 
full-grown  bird  long  enough,  and  too  long.  It  is 
an  anomaly  in  natural  history." 

Through  the  superintendent  of  the  Cook  County 
public  schools  a  primitive  red  schoolhouse  away  out 
on  the  prairie,  ten  miles  from  Chicago,  was  dis- 
covered minus  a  teacher,  and  this  plucky  young 
woman  as  usual  won  the  day  and  in  her  twenty-first 
year  found  at  "Harlem"  a  surplus  of  isolation  and  a 
sufficient  field  for  the  cultivation  of  her  powers. 
While  packing  her  trunk  for  this  first  new  departure. 
Miss  Willard  philosophized  thus: 

49 


50  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

"If  I  become  a  teacher  in  some  school  that  I  do 
not  like,  if  I  go  away  alone  and  try  what  I  myself 
can  do,  and  suffer,  and  am  tired  and  lonesome;  if 
I  am  in  a  position  where  I  must  have  all  the  respon- 
sibility myself  and  must  be  alternately  the  hammer 
that  strikes  and  the  anvil  that  bears,  I  think  I  may 
grow  to  be  strong  and  earnest  in  practice,  as  I  have 
always  tried  to  be  in  theory.  So  here  goes  for  a 
fine  character.  If  I  were  not  intent  upon  it,  I 
could  live  contented  here  at  Swampscott  all  my 
days." 

Well  for  her  that  of  good  humor  and  stoutness  of 
heart  she  had  abundant  supply,  for  upon  her  arrival 
at  Harlem  she  found  her  savage  little  pupils  had 
broken  the  windows  and  were  engaged  in  "sundry 
forms  of  controversy,  emphasized  with  fisticuffs." 
Imagine  the  wonder  of  these  twenty  pupils,  most 
of  whom  were  foreigners  of  different  nationalities  i 
when  on  the  opening  morning  this  frank-souled, 
sweet-voiced  young  schoolmistress  read  a  few  verses 
from  her  little  pocket  Testament  and  suggested  they 
should  sing  a  hymn.  We  are  inclined  to  differ  with 
Miss  Willard's  afterthought  that  the  hymn  selected 
was  "incongruous  though  familiar,"  and  heartily 
wish  we  might  have  heard  the  aspiring  little  com- 
pany's attempt  to  sing  "I  want  to  be  an  angel." 

Miss  Willard's  voluminous  records  of  this  first 
period  of  teaching  would  make  a  valuable  handbook 


THE  TEACHER  51 

of  the  art,  summed  up  in  her  prescient  observation, 
"When  you  get  them  all  to  think  alike  and  act 
alike  by  your  command,  you  can  do  with  them  what 
you  will."  The  hammer  blows  were  not  lacking,  the 
metal  rang  true,  the  brave  young  spirit  got  more 
discipline  than  her  pupils,  the  teacher's  head  was 
often  bowed  in  prayer.  She  found  a  generous- 
hearted  girl  friend  in  the  home  that  sheltered  her 
during  these  days  when  life  was  a  serious  business, 
and  the  two  girls  started  a  Sunday  school  in  the 
forlorn  little  schoolhouse,  out  of  which  grew  a 
well-ordered  Methodist  church  in  what  is  now  the 
charming  Chicago  suburb  of  River  Forest. 

Later,  as  an  assistant  in  the  Academy  at  Kankakee, 
forty  miles  from  Chicago,  Miss  Willard  spent  a 
single  term,  her  brother  Oliver  meanwhile  succeed- 
ing her  on  the  Harlem  prairie,  going  thither  with  his 
father's  blessing  and  his  sensible  reminder,  "If  you 
do  as  well  with  that  school  as  Frank  has  done  I 
shall  be  perfectly  satisfied." 

One  of  the  first  beautiful  outgrowths  of  the 
independent  life  this  young  teacher  had  longed  for, 
was  seen  when  the  County  Bible  Association  met  in 
Kankakee,  and  Miss  Willard  wrote  her  mother, 
"When  they  took  up  a  collection  and  I  wrote  'F. 
E.  W.,  $1,'  I  felt  a  new  thanksgiving  that  I  could 
earn  and  use  money  according  to  my  own  judgment. 
I  have  promised  myself  that  I  will  give  as  much  as 


LIBRARY 
UNIVERS/TY  OF  ILLINOIS 
AT  URBANA- CHAMPAIGN 


52  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

I  can  from  all  my  earnings  to  promote  the  doing  of 
good  in  the  world." 

After  a  home  vacation  Miss  Willard  again  taught 
the  Harlem  school  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  spring  of 
1861,  and  on  her  return  to  Evanston,  as  she  has 
chronicled  the  story,  for  three-quarters  of  a  year  she 
wore  a  ring  and  acknowledged  an  allegiance  based 
upon  the  supposition  that  an  intellectual  comrade- 
ship was  sure  to  deepen  into  unity  of  heart.  In  1862 
we  find  her,  in  company  with  Mary  Bannister, 
battling  wnth  youthful  Evanstonians  in  the  public 
school;  a  typical  American  specimen  of  that  institu- 
tion, where  demure  and  well-bred  children  brought 
bouquets  and  beaming  smiles  to  "teacher,"  and 
where  two  overgrown  boys,  alarmed  at  Miss  Wil- 
lard's  approach,  stick  in  hand,  vaulted  out  of  an 
open  window  and  never  dared  return. 

Into  these  bright  days,  when  teaching  and  the 
charm  of  home  joys  made  a  composite  well-nigh 
perfect,  there  came  the  first  great  grief  of  Miss 
Willard's  life.  She  lost  her  sister  Mary,  the  gentle 
girl  with  sensitive  ethical  standards,  keen  love  of 
the  beautiful  and  the  good,  whose  going  changed  all 
the  world  to  her  sister  Frances,  and,  in  an  age  of 
skepticism,  gave  her  "an  anchor  that  would  hold." 

Other  changes  rapidly  followed.  The  sweet 
home  by  the  lake,  every  tree  and  shrub  surrounding 
it  beloved  by  Frances,  was  sold;  Forest  Home  passed 


PRKCKPTRESS.  I, IMA  SKMINAKV 


..-.,,■,  ...... L.  .^11-^ -■■      ■-'^'■-    ■:rTT»^-..^...^ 


THE  TEACHER  53 

out  of  the  hands  that  had  builded  and  blessed  it; 
Ohver,  the  young  theologian,  and  Mary  Bannister, 
his  wife,  were  soon  to  go  to  their  new  home  in 
Denver,  Colorado,  when  in  August  of  this  year, 
1862,  Frances  was  elected  Teacher  of  Natural 
Sciences  in  her  alma  mater.  Until  the  close  of  the 
year  she  taught  nine  and  ten  classes  a  day,  while 
the  keynote  of  all  her  underlying  thought  and  spirit's 
yearning  was  set  to  the  pitiful  refrain,  "Mary 
didn't  get  well." 

Two  years  of  teaching  in  the  Pittsburg  Female 
College  opened  a  wider  circle  of  life  to  Miss  Willard. 
A  friend  then  closely  associated  with  her  writes: 
"We  all  recognized  in  the  brilliant,  genial,  warm- 
hearted girl  a  genius  which  was  rare  and  which 
seemed  to  give  promise  of  much  in  the  future,  and 
yet  none  of  us  dreamed  of  the  career  that  was  before 
her  and  of  the  grand  achievements  of  her  life.  She 
was  always  bubbling  over  with  wit  and  humor,  and 
at  the  same  time  was  full  of  pathos  and  sentiment. 
She  had  already  been  touched  by  the  subduing 
power  of  a  great  sorrow  which  had  not  embittered 
her  but  had  made  her  more  tender  and  loving  toward 
all.  She  seemed  to  have  a  vocabulary  of  her  own,  and 
often  used  words  and  phrases  of  her  own  coining, 
and  with  a  sang  froid  which  no  other  person  could 
ever  imitate.  I  can  see  her  now  as  I  often  saw  her 
then,  sitting  on  the  steps  of  the  old  college  of  a 


54  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

summer  evening,  surrounded  by  a  bevy  of  teachers 
and  students,  holding  them  spellbound  by  the  power 
of  her  vivid  imagination,  and  ofttimes  convulsed 
with  laughter  at  her  sallies  of  genuine  wit.  She  had 
a  wonderfully  magnetic  influence  over  young  girls  — 
believed  in  them,  trusted  them,  stood  by  them 
(often  when  others  condemned),  sought  out  those 
who  were  shy  and  retiring  and  had  little  confidence 
in  themselves,  praised  them  for  their  smallest  efforts, 
and  aimed  ever  to  inspire  them  with  her  own  high 
ideals  of  life  and  character."  While  in  Pittsburg, 
Miss  Willard's  strange  new  sense  of  loss  and  loneli- 
ness was  solaced  as  she  sang  herself  into  the  pages 
of  "Nineteen  Beautiful  Years,"  that  blessed  biog- 
raphy of  her  heavenly  human  sister  Mary  that 
tells  everybody  to  be  good. 

Upon  Miss  Willard's  return  to  Evanston  she  was 
one  of  a  talented  trio  who  taught  the  Grove  School, 
a  private  enterprise,  where  Miss  Willard  found  an 
opportunity  of  putting  many  of  her  unique  pedagogic 
inventions  to  a  successful  practical  test  among  the 
"best-born  and  best-mannered  children  in  Evanston. " 
In  the  summer  vacation  of  that  year  Miss  Willard, 
as  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  American  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Ladies'  Centenary  Association, 
helped  to  build  Heck  Hall  in  Evanston,  a  home 
building  for  the  students  of  the  Garrett  Biblical 
Institute. 


THE  TEACHER  55 

When,  in  the  autumn  of  1866,  her  parents  were 
established  in  Rest  Cottage,  their  new  home,  Miss 
Willard  taught  for  a  year  as  preceptress  of  the 
Genesee  Wesleyan  Seminary  in  the  historic  village 
of  Lima,  New  York,  only  thirty  miles  from  her 
birthplace.  In  January,  1868,  another  severance 
in  the  sacred  home  circle  brought  its  vigils  and  its 
sorrow,  INUss  Willard's  honored  father,  after  a 
lingering  illness,  the  last  weeks  of  which  were  spent 
in  Churchville,  N.  Y.,  "going  triumphantly  home 
to  God." 

When,  in  the  spring,  Miss  Kate  A.  Jackson,  a 
loved  and  sympathetic  friend  who  for  several  years 
had  lived  and  taught  with  Miss  Willard,  proposed 
a  "tour  of  Europe,"  it  was  a  joy  that  lost  nothing 
for  its  complete  and  fresh  surprise.  What  more 
natural  than  for  Miss  Jackson  to  gain  her  generous 
father's  consent  to  meet  every  expense  of  the  ex- 
tended journey  these  enthusiasts  planned,  the  keen 
and  kindly  donor  telling  Miss  Willard  she  must 
believe  that  it  was  to  him  the  fulfillment  of  an  ear- 
nest desire  that  his  daughter  should  go  abroad,  but 
that  never  until  now  had  he  found  one  with  whom  he 
felt  inclined  to  send  her?  Could  Miss  Willard's 
mother  bear  the  loneliness  of  another  separation? 
Yes,  Spartan  that  she  was,  with  her  child's  good 
ever  forming  the  horizon  of  her  own  hopes  and  happi- 
ness, she  would  go  to  Oliver  and  Mary  in  Appleton, 


56  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

Wisconsin,  while  Frances  and  Kate  studied  Europe 
and  themselves. 

Miss  Willard  returned  from  that  wonderful  trip 
abroad  with  a  human  picture  gallery  in  her  heart 
far  exceeding  in  its  riches  and  realities  the  galleries 
of  Europe  whose  masterpieces  crowded  her  brain. 
"  What  can  be  done  to  make  the  world  a  wider  place 
for  women.''"  was  the  question  that  surged  through 
her  soul 

In  Paris  came  the  prophetic  inspiration  which,  if 
courageously  carried  out,  she  felt  would  best  satisfy 
her  resolute  ideals.  This  brave  plan  was  "  to  study 
by  reading,  personal  observation,  and  acquaintance 
the  ivoman  question  in  Europe,  and,  after  returning 
to  America,  to  study  it  further  in  relation  to  her 
own  land;  talk  in  public  on  the  subject,  and  cast  her- 
self with  what  weight  or  weakness  she  possessed 
against  the  only  foe  of  what  she  conceived  to  be  the 
justice  of  the  subject — unenlightened  public  opin- 
ion." "It  is  to  be  a  word-and-idea  battle,"  she 
wrote,  "that  will  only  deepen  with  years  and  must 
at  last  have  a  result  that  will  delight  all  who  have 
helped  to  hasten  it."  It  was  "the  human  question" 
rather  than  the  woman  question,  as  Miss  Willard 
has  eloquently  affirmed,  that  was  shaping  itself  in 
her  mind  and  winning  her  heart's  loyalty,  when 
on  St.  Valentine's  day,  1871,  she  was  elected  pres- 
ident of  the  Evanston  College  for  Ladies — the  first 
woman  to  whom  such  a  title  was  ever  accorded. 


DEAN  OF  WOMAN'S  COLLEG?:, 
NORTHWESTERN  UNIVERSITY 


..ijtmtattl^itiLm 


THE  TEACHER  57 

The  history  of  the  relation  of  this  college  to  its 
neighbor  University,  the  Northwestern,  has  more 
than  once  repeated  itself  in  the  evolution  of  the 
higher  education  of  women  during  the  last  thirty 
years.  Mrs.  Mary  F.  Haskin  and  other  thoughtful 
women  of  Evanston,  anxious  to  secure  for  their 
daughters  the  advantages  for  study  they  themselves 
had  missed,  founded  a  woman's  college  with  a 
board  of  women  trustees,  and  a  woman  president 
who  should  confer  diplomas  and  be  recognized  and 
proved  as  the  peer  of  men  in  administrative  power. 
Coincident  with  the  transfer  of  Miss  Willard's  alma 
mater,  the  Northwestern  Female  College,  with  its 
list  of  alumnie,  to  the  trusteeship  of  the  Evanston 
College  for  Ladies,  Rev.  Dr.  (afterward  Bishop) 
E.  O.  Haven  accepted  the  presidency  of  the  North- 
western University  on  condition  that  "every  door 
should  be  flung  wide  to  humanity's  gentler  half." 
Doctor  Haven  possessed  sufficient  skill  and  diplo- 
macy to  meet  the  problem  of  this  triangle  of  educa- 
tional interests — the  old  college,  the  new  college,  and 
the  university — and  under  his  presidency  the  two 
institutions  moved  on  in  the  utmost  harmony. 

The  new  president  of  the  college  threw  herself 
with  great  zest  into  this  endeavor.  A  better  build- 
ing was  needed;  the  "Woman's  Fourth  of  July"  was 
planned,  and  for  three  months  Miss  Willard  waked 
and  slept  in  a  combined  atmosphere  of  education 
and  patriotism.    The  Educational  Association,  with 


58  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

Mrs.  A.  H.  Hoge  as  president,  sent  out  countless 
circulars;  Miss  Willard's  ingenious  brain  and  busy 
hand  were  back  of  many  of  the  original  plans  that 
resulted  in  a  "Woman's  Fourth,"  with  no  suggestion 
of  cannon  or  cracker,  but  with  a  subscription  list 
that  aggregated  $30,000,  and  a  sale  of  $3,000  worth 
of  dinner  to  the  hungry  participants  in  the  fun  and 
frolic  of  the  day.  Everybody  helped  in  a  most  gen- 
erous fashion;  the  village  authorities  presented  the 
Committee  with  one  of  its  parks  as  the  building  site 
of  the  college,  and  on  that  Fourth  the  corner-stone 
of  the  new  building  was  laid,  women's  hands  assisting 
in  the  ceremony  amid  great  rejoicings  of  heart, 
saying,  "Grace  unto  it." 

The  first  catalogue  of  the  Evanston  College  for 
Ladies  contains  a  statement  from  the  president. 
Miss  Willard,  regarding  her  plan  for  "self-govern- 
ment," a  question  of  such  vital  interest  to  her  then 
and  throughout  her  life,  and  to  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion as  well,  that  we  record  it  briefly  here : 

The  general  basis  of  government  in  this  institution 
is  that  merit  shall  be  distinguished  by  privilege. 
Any  young  lady  who  establishes  for  herself  a  trust- 
worthy character  will  be  trusted  accordingly.  After 
a  probation  of  one  term,  anyone  who,  during  this 
time,  has  been  loyal  to  the  regulations  of  the  school, 
and  has  not  once  required  reproof,  will  have  her 
name  inscribed  upon  the  "Roll  of  Honor"  and  will 
be  invested  with  certain  powers  and  responsibilities 


THE  TEACHER  59 

usually  restricted  to  the  "Faculty."  The  "Roll  of 
Honor"  has  its  constitution,  officers  and  regular 
meetings,  and  sends  reports  to  the  teachers  relative 
to  the  trusts  of  which  it  is  made  the  depository. 
A  single  reproof  "conditions,"  and  two  reproofs  re- 
move any  of  its  members,  who  can  regain  their 
places  by  the  same  process  through  which  they  were 
first  attained.  Those  who,  during  one  entire  term, 
have  not  been  "conditioned"  upon  the  roll  of  honor 
are  promoted  to  the  "Self-Governed  List"  and  give 
this  pledge:  "I  will  try  so  to  act  that,  if  all  others 
followed  my  example,  our  school  would  need  no 
rules  whatever.  In  manners  and  in  punctuality 
I  will  try  to  be  a  model,  and  in  all  my  intercourse 
with  my  teachers  and  schoolmates  I  will  seek,  above 
all  else,  the  things  that  make  for  peace." 

Thenceforward  these  young  ladies  "do  as  they 
please,"  so  long  as  they  "  please  "  to  do  right.  Every 
pupil  in  school  is  eligible,  first,  to  the  roll  of  honor; 
next,  to  a  place  among  the  "  self -governed  " ;  hence, 
there  is  no  ground  of  jealousy.  Scholarship  does 
not  enter  into  the  requirements  of  admission  — 
character  is  placed  above  all  competition  here. 

It  is  believed  that  this  system  may  develop  a 
true  sentiment  of  "honor"  among  pupils,  one  that 
shall  favor  the  school  rather  than  the  delinquent. 
The  false  ideas  of  honor  that  still  prevail  to  an 
absurd  extent  among  young  people  at  school  are 
the  last  relics  of  the  mediaeval  system  of  oppression, 
and  of  espionage,  its  sworn  ally.  As  a  democratic 
form  of  government  inspires  the  sentiment  of  loyalty 
to  itself,  and  implies  the  duty  of  all  patriotic  citizens 
to  bring  to  justice  those  whose  conduct  threatens 


60  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

the  public  welfare,  so  in  an  institution  where  the 
pupils  are  intrusted  with  a  part  of  the  responsibility, 
and  where  the  possibility  of  self-government  is  set 
before  them,  it  is  a  logical  inference  that  they  will 
stand  by  the  government  of  which  they  form  a  part. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Miss  Willard  thus 
anticipated  by  a  whole  generation  the  student  gov- 
ernment that  now  obtains  at  Wellesley  College  and 
many  other  educational  institutions  in  our  country. 

Miss  Willard  was  facing  one  of  the  gravest  prob- 
lems of  the  educator,  "How  can  I  make  school 
discipline  most  conducive  to  the  formation  of  noble, 
self-reliant  character?"  For  proof  of  the  efficacy  of 
this  plan,  tested  for  two  years  at  the  Evanston 
College  for  Ladies,  I  turned  to  one  of  her  warm- 
hearted, quick-brained  pupils  of  that  history-making 
period,  Mrs.  Isabella  Webb  Parks,  a  leading  Roll  of 
Honor  girl,  now  the  mother-teacher  of  a  large 
fireside  circle  of  her  own,  and  she  contributes  the 
following  sketch: 

I  met  Miss  Willard  for  the  first  time  in  the  fall  of 
1871.  The  Northwestern  University,  at  Evanston, 
Illinois,  had  just  opened  its  doors  to  women.  The 
women  of  Evanston,  anxious  to  make  the  experi- 
ment of  co-education  a  success  in  their  town,  had 
organized  the  "Evanston  College  for  Ladies,"  an 
institution  designed  to  provide  the  young  ladies  who 
should  attend  the  University  with  home  surround- 
ings, with  women  for  their  counselors  and  friends. 


THE  TEACHER  61 

Of  this  institution  Miss  Willard  was  the  Dean,  and 
it  was  my  happy  lot  to  be  one  of  those  whom  she 
always  lovingly  designated  as  "my  girls."  What 
it  was  for  girls  to  be  closely  associated  with  Miss 
Willard  in  the  formative  period  of  their  lives,  only 
those  who  knew  her  well  can  at  all  appreciate.  Such 
broad  views  of  life  and  destiny  as  she  opened  to  our 
sight;  such  high  ideals  of  character  as  she  set  before 
us;  such  visions  of  the  heights  to  which  we  might 
climb,  of  the  noble  deeds  we  might  achieve;  and, 
with  it  all,  such  a  deep  and  weighty  sense  of  respon- 
sibility for  the  use  we  made  of  life  with  its  gifts  and 
opportunities,  I  have  never  seen  nor  felt  through 
the  inspiration  of  anyone  else.  To  be  associated 
with  Frances  Willard  was  like  living  upon  Alpine 
heights. 

Her  first  Friday  afternoon  talk  to  us  struck  the 
keynote  of  her  influence.  In  those  days  co-educa- 
tion was  still  looked  upon  as  very  much  of  an  experi- 
ment, and,  though  I  doubt  if  it  has  been  tried  in 
more  friendly  and  congenial  surroundings  than  at 
Evanston,  there  were  many  there  who  looked  doubt- 
fully upon  it  and  were  ready  to  seize  upon  the  slight- 
est indications  of  evil.  Before  Miss  Willard  was 
gathered  in  that  old  chapel  a  company  of  average 
girls.  None  of  them  wanted  to  do  anything  very 
bad.  Many  were  inspired  with  a  more  or  less  ear- 
nest purpose  to  make  the  most  of  themselves,  and 
had,  therefore,  sought  these  opportunities  for  higher 
education.  But  the  majority  had  no  clearer  under- 
standing of  life's  meaning,  no  deeper  appreciation 
of  its  responsibilities,  than  is  usual  among  girls  of 
their  age.     They   possessed,    moreover,   quite   the 


62  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

average  amount  of  animal  spirits  and  love  of  fun. 
Had  they  been  placed  in  a  regulation  female  sem- 
inary with  its  multitude  of  inconsequential  rules, 
they  would  have  acted  as  girls  usually  do  under 
such  circumstances  —  set  at  naught  the  exasperating 
and  trivial  restrictions  which  implied  a  lack  of  good 
sense  and  self-respect  on  their  part.  To  my  knowl- 
edge, there  were  among  them  girls  who  only  waited 
the  occasion  to  rebel  against  such  strictures.  But 
in  that  first  talk  Miss  Willard  disarmed  all  such 
incipient  rebellion.  She  gave  us  briefly  the  history 
of  the  opening  of  the  University  to  women,  told  of 
President  E.  O.  Haven's  generous,  brotherly  inter- 
est and  faith  in  us;  of  the  anxiety  with  which  the 
women  of  Evanston  had  planned  for  our  coming 
and  had  sought  to  make  the  way  plain  and  easy  be- 
fore us;  of  how  ready  they  were  to  help  us  in  any 
way  we  needed  and  with  what  interest  they  were 
watching  us.  Though  we  saw  only  unfamiliar  faces 
about  us,  yet,  she  said,  "Friendly  eyes  are  upon  you 
as  you  walk  our  streets  and  the  kind  hands  of  stran- 
gers are  ready  to  clasp  yours."  Then  she  reminded 
us  that  this  was  a  new  movement,  a  step  forward  in 
woman's  advancement,  and  its  success  must  de- 
pend chiefly  upon  those  in  whose  interest  it  was 
made.  With  the  impressive  tone  and  manner 
which  only  those  who  have  heard  her  can  appreciate, 
she  said,  "Your  feet  and  mine  are  treading  ground 
untrod  before.  I  am  speaking  to  those  whose  in- 
tellects must  "be  active  and  keen,  whose  hearts  must 
be  loyal  and  true,  else  the  new  experiment  is  a  fail- 
ure." By  the  time  she  had  finished,  every  girl  in 
her  presence  felt  that  the  eyes  of  all  Evanston  were 


THE   TEACHER  63 

fixed  upon  our  little  band  with  anxious  but  sym- 
pathetic and  kindly  interest;  that  the  cause  of  co- 
education depended  very  largely  upon  our  success  as 
students  and  our  loyalty  to  the  right;  that  even  the 
larger  cause  of  woman 's  advancement  was  involved 
in  the  use  we  made  of  the  opportunities  now  placed 
within  our  reach.  I  do  not  believe  there  was  a  girl 
there  who  would  not  have  despised  herself  if  she  had 
knowingly  been  false  to  the  responsibilities  resting 
upon  her. 

It  was  not  long  after  this  that  an  incident  occurred, 
small  in  itself,  yet  very  significant  of  the  effect  of  Miss 
Willard  's  influence.  The  grounds  of  the  old  Seminary 
which  we  occupied  temporarily  in  the  hope  of  enter- 
ing a  year  later  the  beautiful  new  college  then  build- 
ing, were  very  near  the  railroad  track.  One  after- 
noon a  train  passed  loaded  with  young  men  students. 
There  were  twenty  or  more  girls  in  the  yard  or  on  the 
porch,  and  the  young  men  on  the  train  gave  the 
"Fem.  Sem."  the  Chautauqua  salute.  Not  a  hand- 
kerchief waved  in  return.  On  the  contrary,  the 
demonstration  was  regarded  in  the  light  of  an  insult 
and  called  forth  some  indignant  remarks.  Yet 
there  were  girls  in  that  group  who,  under  other 
circumstances,  would  have  considered  it  great  sport 
to  answer  the  salute,  principally  because  it  was  a 
defiance  of  a  command  which  implied  lack  of  sense 
and  self-respect  in  those  upon  whom  it  was  laid. 
Miss  Willard  had  given  no  specific  directions  to 
her  girls  regarding  their  deportment  toward  young 
men  or  anyone  else.  She  had  simply  inspired  them 
with  a  sense  of  their  individual  responsibility,  had 
made  them  feel  that  greater  interests  than  they  had 


64  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

dreamed  of  depended  upon  their  conduct.  An 
"arrest  of  thought"  was  always,  in  her  view,  a  far 
more  effectual  way  of  reaching  the  desired  end  than 
were  rules  and  monitors,  for  she  believed  that  the 
only  true  government  is  self-government.  It  was 
upon  this  idea  that  she  founded  her  self-governed 
system,  which  was  a  perfect  success. 

Never  before  had  I  lived  under  so  keen  a  sense 
of  personal  responsibility^  nor  has  it  been  exceeded 
in  later  years.  One  who  lived  under  her  influence, 
must  have  been  callous  indeed  to  have  resisted  it, 
for  she  appealed  always  to  the  highest  motives. 
"Help  us  always  to  be  what  in  her  best  moments 
each  of  us  wants  to  be,"  was  the  frequently  recurring 
petition  in  her  prayer  at  our  evening  devotions.  To 
that  ideal  self  she  always  appealed.  She  seemed 
to  ignore  the  possibility  of  our  allowing  any  lower 
self  to  have  a  voice  in  making  up  our  decisions,  and 
the  self  to  which  she  thus  appealed  responded.  It 
was  the  same  years  afterward  when,  instead  of  half 
a  hundred  school  girls,  she  gathered  as  her  pupils 
"the  women  of  two  hemispheres."  And  very  sel- 
dom did  those  appealed  to  disappoint  her.  It 
could  not  be  expected  that  there  would  be  no  ex- 
ceptions: Judas  became  a  thief  and  a  traitor  under 
the  constant  influence  of  the  Master  himself,  and 
there  were  a  few  who  did  not  measure  up  to  Miss 
Willard  's  faith  and  trust.  But  by  far  the  most  have 
been  lifted  up  to  higher  planes  of  life  and  thought 
by  her  generous  confidence. 

It  was  not  strange  that  warm-hearted  girls,  their 
affections  unchilled  by  experience  with  the  world's 
coldness  and  their  faith  unshaken  by  its  deceptions, 
should  have  idolized  her.     Some  onlookers,  behold- 


WILLARD   HALL,  NORTHWESTERN  UNIVERSITY 


THE  TEACHER  65 

ing  the  devoted  loj'^alty  and  passionate  affection 
which  she  inspired  in  us,  declared  that  her  influence 
was  inexplicable  on  natural  grounds;  that  it  actually 
bordered  on  the  uncanny;  that  she  possessed  a  kind 
of  occult  magnetism  not  to  be  resisted  by  those  who 
came  within  its  reach.  But  it  was  not  so.  Her 
power  was  only  that  which  a  great  soul,  full  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  must  ever  wield  over  its  fellows. 
It  is  the  power  which  has  made  Miss  Willard  the 
organizer  and  leader  of  the  womanhood  of  her  time 
and  the  commanding  figure  of  this  century. 

Dr.  Frank  M.  Bristol,  pastor  of  Miss  Willard's 
home  church,  in  his  farewell  address  to  his  congrega- 
tion on  March  27,  said:  "Frances  Willard  taught 
me  in  the  University,  and  she  made  the  classroom 
seem  like  a  flower  bed." 

The  story  of  Miss  Willard's  withdrawal  from  her 
work  as  Dean  of  the  Woman's  College  and  Professor 
of  Esthetics  in  the  Northwestern  University  is 
recorded  in  her  own  words.  The  spirit  in  which  she 
took  this  step  was  commented  upon  in  the  address 
of  President  Henry  Wade  Rogers  on  the  occasion 
of  the  commemorative  service  in  Evanston,  and 
tribute  has  been  paid  in  this  address  to  the  wisdom 
of  her  course,  the  thoughtfulness  and  sincerity  of 
her  motives,  and  the  sensitive  conscientiousness  of 
her  attitude  toward  her  colleagues  from  whom  she 
was  compelled  to  differ  in  regard  to  matters  of 
administration. 

When  Miss  Willard  introduced  her  self-sovern- 


66  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

merit  plan  to  her  college  girls,  she  tells  us  sne  felt 
that  she  "was  going  into  a  garden  planted  out  with 
beautiful  maiden  flowers."  There  were  two  thou- 
sand pupils  whose  young  lives  received  the  impress 
of  such  a  teacher,  their  beloved  Miss  Willard,  whose 
boundless  faith  and  prophetic  insight  taught  them 
in  the  wide  fields  of  character  and  destiny  how  for 
themselves  to  discern  excellence,  how  to  live  in 
their  fellowships,  not  their  prejudices;  in  brief, 
"How  to  Win."  No  wonder  that  her  portraits 
adorn  the  schoolrooms  of  our  republic  throughout 
the  land. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  TRAVELER 

In  the  days  of  the  Guilds  no  man  could  write 
himself  "master"  until,  as  "journeyman,"  he  had 
traveled  from  city  to  city,  from  land  to  land,  learn- 
ing whatever  might  be  new  and  serviceable  to  him 
in  the  customs  of  his  craft.  When  the  time  of  his 
wandering  was  over,  if  he  had  been  diligent  and 
wise,  he  returned  to  his  own  land,  no  longer  a  mere 
workman,  provincial  in  his  art,  but  a  master,  with 
a  world-wide  training. 

Frances  E.  Willard,  who  was  to  be  both  mistress 
and  teacher  of  the  art  of  life,  having  already  passed 
her  apprenticeship  of  instruction  and  experimental 
practice,  was  now  to  wander  in  other  lands,  see  life 
under  other  conditions,  with  other  customs,  study- 
ing its  advantages  and  disadvantages,  its  helps  and 
its  hindrances,  henceforth  to  look  on  it  with  cos- 
mopolitan eyes. 

All  the  gathered  gain  and  fruitage  of  the  past, 
the  results  of  the  ripe  culture  of  its  ages  in  art, 
music,  literature,  architecture,  history — all  this  she 
strove  to  make  her  own.  She  worked  and  studied 
in  every  capital  in  Europe  but  one;  she  traveled 

67 


68  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

north  into  Finland,  east  to  the  banks  of  the  Volga; 
she  lived  in  Damascus,  and  spent  some  time  in 
Palestine  in  the  company  of  eminent  scholars;  she 
climbed  the  Pyramids,  and  went  south  till  she  could 
look  over  into  Nubia  and  see  in  the  sky  above  it 
the  Southern  Cross. 

In  the  course  of  this  trip  little  escaped  her  dis- 
cerning taste.  Give  such  a  woman,  with  such 
capabilities,  such  an  opportunity,  and  she  will 
naturally  make  more  of  it  than  would  a  host  with 
more  limited  vision.  As  the  friend  who  was  her 
daily  companion  through  these  years,  herself  a 
woman  of  more  than  ordinary  perception,  used  to 
say :  "  I  never  knew  how  much  we  saw,  or  how  much 
there  was  in  what  we  saw,  until  Frank  began  to  tell 
about  it.  Sometimes  I  likened  her  mind  to  the 
philosopher's  stone.  Common  clay  turned  to  gold 
at  its  touch."  She  was  the  proof  of  Charles  Kings- 
ley's  aphorism:  "The  eye  sees  only  what  it  carries 
with  it,  the  power  of  seeing." 

It  was  a  great  change  in  circumstances  for  the 
young  woman  who,  not  so  many  years  before,  stood 
in  the  barn  door  at  old  Forest  Home  and  wailed: 
"Shall  we  ever  go  anywhere,  or  know  anything,  or 
see  anybody!"  but  all  seems  to  have  come  about  as 
naturally  as  if  it  were  nothing  uncommon.  As 
George  Macdonald  has  said:  "Not  only  is  the 
impossible  possible  with  God,  but  it  is  vena  possible." 


THE  TRAVELER  69 

The  itinerary  of  these  two  pilgrims.  Miss  Willard 
and  her  friend,  Miss  Kate  A.  Jackson,  is  fascinating 
reading.  Ireland,  Scotland,  England,  France,  Switz- 
erland, Denmark,  Sweden,  Finland,  Russia,  Poland, 
Germany,  Belgium,  Holland,  the  Rhine,  Italy, 
Egypt,  Palestine,  Greece,  Constantinople,  the 
Danube,  Hungary,  Vienna,  Paris,  London,  Paris 
again,  are  some  of  the  headings. 

Throughout  this  period  Miss  Willard  flung  herself 
into  the  stream  of  its  labors  and  enjoyments  with  that 
ardor  and  abandon  to  the  moment,  that  concentra- 
tion of  purpose  upon  the  precise  matter  in  hand, 
which  was  her  happy  characteristic  all  her  life.  She 
got  out  of  each  stage,  as  it  came,  all  of  which  she  was 
capable  at  the  time.  She  was  just  as  brave,  as  bright, 
and  as  half-shy,  during  this  trip  to  Europe  as  she 
had  been  at  home.  She  gives  a  diverting  account  of 
the  "benumbing  effect"  upon  her  of  the  stately, 
black-coated  array  of  waiters  at  the  Lakes  of 
Killarney.  But  the  "benumbing  effect"  manifestly 
did  not  extend  to  her  brain,  for  she  accompanies  the 
recital  with  one  of  the  most  charming  and  graceful 
descriptions  of  the  beauty  of  the  place  ever  penned. 

Miss  Willard  had  always  been  responsive  to  the 
spontaneous  music  of  nature.  Now  she  had  the 
great  music  of  ages  of  human  life  also,  to  vibrate 
over  heart  and  nerves.  What  must  this  have  meant 
to  one  who,  as  a  child,  had  kissed  the  old  melodeon 


70  FRANXES  E.  WILLARD 

goodby,  and  who  eight  years  before  had  ■vrritten, 
"Five  minutes  of  beautiful  singing  or  playing  will 
change  my  entire  mental  attitude,"  and,  "No  feeling 
ever  comes  to  me  so  fraught  with  bitterness  but  one 
long  steady  look  into  the  calm  blue  sky  will  cause  it 
to  melt  away  and  disappear." 

The  two  women  went  almost  everywhere.  The 
stage  and  the  stage-setting  of  the  drama  of  history 
for  centuries  was  before  them,  and  they  were  well 
versed  in  history,  not  as  a  dry  study  held  in  memory 
alone,  but  as  students  who,  in  learning  it,  were  so 
sympathetically  disposed  that  they  almost  expe- 
rienced it  as  they  read.  For  this  perfect  preparation 
Miss  Willard  had  to  thank  her  Aunt  Sarah,  a  dra- 
matic teacher  of  history.  The  travelers  climbed  the 
Alps  to  study  the  serenity  and  poise  of  monastic  life, 
and  loved  the  human-eyed  St.  Bernard  dogs  of  the 
friendly  hospice.  At  London  they  tried  athletic 
feats  in  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  at  least 
Miss  Willard  did.  They  went  up  the  Nile  in  a 
steamer  borrowed  of  the  Pasha  for  the  occasion. 
They  perched  on  the  broken  columns  of  ancient 
temples,  they  faced  with  questioning  woman-eyes 
the  eternal  woman,  the  Sphinx,  most  unknown  to 
themselves,  themselves  part  of  her  mystery. 

In  Palestine  they  took  no  joy  in  pretended  tombs 
and  places,  aUen  with  the  mixed  breath  of  crowds, 
although  they  tried  to  "do"  them  dutifully.    But 


THE  TRAVELER  71 

as  the  day  shut  its  doors  they  went  out  to  the  Mount 
of  Olives,  where  our  Lord  prayed  in  the  deepening 
silence,  and  the  same  stars  looked  down  on  them 
which  looked  on  Him  that  night  so  long  gone  by, 
the  same  stars  He  had  created.  And  they  went  to 
Bethany,  the  Lord's  "home  of  rest,"  where  lived 
those  He  loved,  who  loved  Him;  to  Jordan,  and 
Jericho,  and  the  Dead  Sea,  where  by  some  mis- 
chance of  travel  they  found  themselves  with  just 
ten  minutes  to  stay;  each  place  lived  again  in  that 
clear-cut,  imaginative  life. 

In  Greece  their  time  was  far  too  limited  for  their 
limitless  desires.  It  was  sufficiently  long  for  them, 
however,  not  only  to  see  the  usual  sights,  but  to 
search  out  a  shallow,  pebbly  brook — perhaps  the 
very  brook  through  the  cool  stream  of  which  Socrates 
walked  barefoot  that  bright  Athenian  day — and 
following  along  its  course  to  a  solitary  turn  where  the 
grass  bank  sloped  gently  and  a  single  tall  tree  grew, 
there  to  sit  down  together  in  its  shade  and  read  their 
Phsedrus  to  the  hum  of  the  cicadse,  and  the  stirring 
of  the  breeze,  and  the  lisp  of  the  brook  around  its 
stones;  just  as  at  Jerusalem  they  looked  for  a  sight 
of  the  valley,  now  covered  with  gardens,  where 
was  the  great  single-arched  bridge  across  which  the 
Queen  of  Sheba  advanced  to  meet  King  Solomon, 
and  drawing  out  their  Bible,  re-read  the  story 
together. 


72  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

In  Italy  Miss  Willard  wrote:  "I  never  dreamed 
in  those  lethargic  years  at  home  what  a  wide  world 
it  is,  how  full  of  misery."  The  swarming  wretched- 
ness of  it  nearly  broke  her  heart.  In  this  grief  also 
she  turned  to  God,  that  omnipotent  Love  and 
Wisdom  that  had  a  right  to  create,  and  created; 
that  Lord  of  Life  "in  Whom  we  live  and  move  and 
have  our  being";  He  who  knows  the  end  from  the 
beginning,  and  had  inexorably  made  us.  "Let  my 
soul  calm  itself,  O  God,  in  Thee!"  she  cried,  again 
and  again.  But  the  maladministration,  the  love  of 
dominion  she  found,  aroused  her  soul  to  revolt  and 
abhorrence.  While  her  whole  European  trip  seemed 
on  the  surface  to  be  given  up  to  culture  for  culture's 
sake,  Miss  Willard's  journal  indicates  the  constant 
trend  of  the  deeper  currents  of  her  nature  toward 
helping  poor,  battered  humanity  that  must  be  lifted 
toward  God.  In  Paris  they  studied  in  the  College 
de  France,  and  at  the  Sorbonne  attended  the  lectures 
of  Laboulaye  and  Guizot,  Legouve  Chasles,  Franck, 
the  historian.  Chevalier,  the  political  economist,  and 
others,  and  were  in  the  capital  for  the  last  time  when 
the  German  armies  began  to  gather  their  hostile 
lines  closer  about  the  great  city.  Before  they  left, 
they  made  a  last  pilgrimage  to  bid  farewell  to  the 
Venus  of  Milo,  before  which  Heine  poured  out  the 
heart-break  of  endless  separation.  After  an  absence 
of  two  years  and  a  half  they  were  ready,  even  eager, 


THE  TRAVELER  7S 

to  return  home.  Everywhere  they  had  been  wel- 
comed. Everywhere  their  hearts  and  minds  had 
received  profit.  Great  store  they  had  laid  by  for 
the  future  years  of  growth  and  activity,  when  in  the 
fall  of  1870,  they  embarked  for  their  own  dear  land. 
From  Miss  Willard's  journals,  faithfully  kept 
throughout  this  eventful  trip,  we  quote  a  section 
on  Egypt. 

Egypt 
Fkom  a  Yankee  Schoolma'am's  Point  of  View 

"I  rode  on,  all  alone,  a  mile  or  more,  to  Memnon's 
statue.  You  know  the  story,  that  in  the  magic  of 
old,  when  the  rays  of  the  rising  sun  struck  the 
statue,  it  gave  forth  sweetest  music.  Perhaps  you 
do  not  know  that  the  heroic  name  of  Memnon  does 
not  rightfully  belong  to  it,  antiquarians  having 
agreed  that  it  is  the  statue  of  Amenophis,  one  of 
Egypt's  ancient  kings.  But  apart  from  these 
pitiless,  prosaic  facts,  this  is  the  most  poetic  piece 
of  sculpture  in  existence,  except  the  Sphinx.  And 
here  was  I,  riding  alone  and  free  over  the  plain  of 
Thebes,  and  yonder  sat  the  vocal  statue  on  his 
solemn  throne,  just  as  he  was  sitting  at  this  same 
hour — under  these  heavens — four  thousand  years 
ago.  Another  statue,  twin  to  this,  but  probably 
some  centuries  less  venerable,  and  not  endowed  with 
vocal  gifts,  is  close  beside  it.  It  is  a  near  relative 
(some  say  the  uncle  of  its  nephew,  the  vocal  statue). 


74  FR.1^XES   E.  WILL-\RD 

and  the  profane  Britishers  christened  the  twain 
'Lord  Dundrean'  and  his  brother  Sam.'  My 
donkey  galloped  nimbly  around  this  dignified  pair, 
vrhile,  quite  obli^"ious  of  the  less  celebrated  relative, 
I  measured  with  long  glances  the  awful  height  of 
Memnon.  Mindful  of  the  explanation  some  scien- 
tific men  have  given  of  the  musical  tradition,  namely, 
that  certain  stones  by  a  rearrangement  of  their 
particles  under  the  influence  of  blows  have  been 
known  to  give  forth  harmonious  sounds,  I  pelted 
the  old  patriarch  with  stones,  but  waked  no  such 
response  as  fancy's  ear  had  often  caught  when  I 
was  far  from  Thebes.  A  Hthe  Arab,  seeing  my 
endeavor,  climbed  the  statue's  side  and  rapped 
away  with  some  \"igor  upon  the  stone  that  lies  across 
its  knee,  producing  some  faint  show  of  resonance, 
but  exigent  imagination,  as  is  its  malicious  custom, 
sneered  at  this  attempt.  I  picked  up  some  cubes  of 
rich  brown  Nile  mud,  crystallized  here  since  last 
the  river  shrank  away  from  Memnon's  feet,  and  the 
dozen  Arabs  who  had  crowded  around  me  gathered 
leaves  and  blades  of  grass  from  the  pedestal's  base 
to  ofPer  me.  Two  really  pretty  girls  of  twelve 
smoothed  my  hand  with  their  hard,  slim  fingers, 
and  looked  me  over  curiously — my  broad-brimmed 
hat  with  its  long  white  scarf,  and  my  traveling  dress 
of  na\y  blue,  being  as  strange  to  them  as  their 
ochre-stained    fingers,    grease-plastered    hair,    and 


THE  TRAVELER  75 

three  rings  in  each  ear  were  to  me.  Another 
girl  passed  by  as  I  sat  there  in  reverie,  with  a  mud 
tray  upon  her  head  containing  cakes  of  mingled  straw 
and  manure — the  only  fuel  of  these  poor  people,  and 
generator  of  the  vermin  which  swarm  in  their 
miserable  villages. 

"  This  sight  brought  me  back  through  two-thirds 
of  the  world's  lifetime,  and  set  me  thinking  about  the 
present  state  of  the  Egyptian  race — a  subject  the 
most  painful  I  have  ever  contemplated.  Especially 
does  the  awful  degradation  and  oppression  of  women, 
which  is  its  cause  here,  distress  me.  When  will  the 
stronger  member  of  the  human  family  in  every  land 
discover  that  if  he  uses  his  more  muscular  arm  to 
hold  down  to  the  earth  the  weaker  member,  he  is 
putting  the  knife  to  his  own  breast — signing  the 
death-warrant  of  his  own  manhood?  That  two  and 
two  make  four  is  not  more  capable  of  demonstration 
than  that  in  every  age  and  country  woman  has  been 
the  stone  around  man's  neck  to  sink  him  to  the 
lowest  depths  or  the  winged  angel  to  help  him  to 
the  purest  heights  that  he  has  ever  won.  And  away 
there  toward  the  sunset,  beyond  the  mystic  Nile, 
the  yellow  sand,  the  wash  of  blue  waves,  is  the 
land  where  man  has  grown  free  enough,  wise  enough, 
brave  enough,  to  let  woman  be  just  what  she  can 
become  without  his  uninspired  restriction — the 
land  where  man  has  withdrawn  his  own  in  favor  of 


76  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

his  Maker's  'thus  far,  and  no  farther.'  Involun- 
tarily I  turned  toward  the  inspiring  west,  and  rode 
around  full  of  thoughts  and  hopes  and  purposes. 

"How  can  I  give  some  idea  of  the  Temple  of 
Jupiter  Ammon,  at  Karnak ?  Suffice  it  for  my  modest 
pages  to  relate,  concerning  the  most  stupendous 
ruins  in  the  world,  that  they  quite  'fill  the  eye  of 
fancy '  —  nay,  even  oppress  that  airy  orb,  such  is 
their  ponderous  magnitude.  Tracing  their  plan 
like  that  of  all  Egyptian  temples  (for  these  people, 
more  than  any  other,  believed  in  the  virtue  of  what 
the  wisest  of  all  critics  called  'vain  repetition'), 
we  passed  in  one  afternoon  through  nearly  three 
thousand  years  of  human  history  and  toil  —  for 
such  is  the  gulf  that  separated  Ousertesen,  the  pro- 
jector, from  Ptolemy-Alexander,  the  last  restorer 
of  the  temple.  Under  such  a  weight  of  time  and 
beneath  such  masses  of  architecture  as  these,  the 
mind  feels  oppressed,  and  struggles  vainly  to  grapple 
with  the  abstract  idea  of  duration,  and  the  concrete 
idea  of  columns,  capitals,  and  crumbling  walls,  that 
seem  as  if  the  Titans  only  could  have  reared  them. 

"We  looked  from  the  lofty  masses  of  architecture 
to  the  slim-legged  Arabs  crouched  on  fragments  of 
rock  below,  and  felt  more  than  ever  that  they  be- 
longed to  a  degenerate  race.  If  not,  then  a  single 
despot  soul  like  that  of  Rameses  II.  must  have 
wielded  a  million  bodies  like  these  as  we  control  the 


THE  TRAVELER  77 

members  of  our  own.  A  horrid  thought  this, 
heavier  upon  the  heart  than  all  these  piled-up  stones. 
Never  does  one  get  the  impression  of  'man's  inhu- 
manity to  man '  so  deeply  graven  on  his  spirit  as  in 
this  land,  the  tyranny  of  whose  kings  has  made  it 
accursed  of  God. 

"The  king  is  the  one  figure  of  supreme  prominence, 
carved  upon  all  these  noble  columns  and  minutely 
sculptured  walls.  He  stands  proudly  erect,  in  his 
chariot;  he  draws  his  bow  victoriously  against  his 
foes,  and  tramples  them  down  under  his  chariot 
wheels;  contemplates  with  serene  triumph  their 
severed  heads  and  hands  piled  up  before  him  by  his 
warriors,  and  offers  as  chief  among  equals  such 
trophies,  human  or  otherwise,  as  please  him,  to  the 
gods.  A  sweet-smelling  savor  are  these  to  the  hawk- 
headed,  jackal-headed,  and  crocodile-headed  mon- 
sters whom  the  Egyptians  worshiped,  and  who  alone 
dispute  pictorial  honors  with  the  sovereign.  Not  a 
touch  of  pity,  not  a  hand  of  helpfulness,  not  a  hint 
of  charity,  relieves  the  bitter  gloom  that  broods 
over  these  splendid  carvings  of  the  greatest  temple 
ever  reared  by  man,  and  the  heart  turns  wearily 
away  while  the  eye  seeks  those  smiling  heavens  that 
bend  in  changeless  love  over  our  poor  world  in  its 
stormful  career,  and  comfort  comes  from  thought  of 
Him  who  reigns  there,  and,  late  or  early,  blots  out 
the  very  memory  of  the  vile  oppressors  of  our  race. 


78  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

'  The  mills  of  God  grind  slowly. 
But  they  grind  exceeding  small,' 

I  murmured  with  deep  satisfaction,  as  my  donkey 
trotted  homeward  over  the  pavement  of  stones, 
crumbled  to  powder,  but  which  once  had  helped  to 
make  Sesostris'  pride. 

"  I  will  close  this  paper  by  a  description  of  Karnak 
by  moonlight: 

"Our  kind  friend,  the  interpreter,  who  had  taken  us 
lately,  by  a  sort  of  tacit  consent,  under  his  care, 
produced  for  me  the  very  cream  of  all  donkeys  for 
this  evening's  excursion,  borrowing  her  from  his 
especial  friend,  the  'chief  of  police'  at  Luxor.  So 
it  fell  out  that,  while  Semiramis  ambled  along  tran- 
quilly, attended  by  her  unfailing  escort,  the  inter- 
preter, I  galloped  on  alone,  my  swift-footed  lad  of 
the  previous  excursions  dancing  attendance  behind 
me.  That  half-hour's  ride  from  Luxor  over  the 
plain  to  Karnak  —  most  stupendous  of  all  the  The- 
ban  ruins  —  I  shall  never  forget.  It  was  the  cul- 
mination of  all  the  East  can  yield. 

"  Above  me  were  new  heavens.  In  the  frame  of  a 
violet  sky  hung  constellations  I  had  never  seen 
before  —  their  palpitating  globes  of  gold  recalled 
the  fruit- waving  trees  of  the  Hesperides.  And  dear, 
familiar  stars  were  there,  only  in  places  very  different 
from  those  they  occupied  *  in  the  infinite  meadows  of 
heaven,'  that  bent  above  my  home.     The  Dipper 


THE  TRAVELER  79 

lay  on  the  horizon's  rim,  tipped  wrong  side  up;  the 
Pleiades  had  climbed  far  up  toward  the  zenith;  and 
the  changeless  face  of  the  North  Star  was  hard  to 
recognize  amid  surroundings  so  unusual.  Around 
me  was  a  new  earth.  The  sandy  plain  stretched 
away  into  the  purple  darkness,  full  of  attractive 
mystery.  Far  off  gleamed  the  firefly  lamps  of  a 
straggling  Arab  village,  and  on  the  cool,  invigorating 
breeze,  which  had  succeeded  to  the  day's  stifling 
heat,  came  the  lonesome  bark  of  dogs  and  jackals,  so 
characteristic  of  the  East. 

"  I  rode  beneath  a  grove  of  palm  trees,  magnificent 
in  stature,  and  of  a  symmetry  unequaled  by  any 
others  ever  seen.  The  shadows  that  they  cast,  like 
mosaics  in  the  moonlight,  I  could  compare  to 
nothing  but  an  emblazoned  shield.  The  white  wall 
and  graceful  dome  of  a  sheik's  tomb  gleamed  through 
the  trees  and  for  a  moment  deepened  the  lacework 
of  their  shadows.  I  rode  along  the  ruined  avenue 
of  sphinxes  that  once  extended  over  the  mile  that 
separates  the  temple  at  Luxor  from  that  of  Zamah. 
How  still  it  was,  and  how  significant  that  stillness 
in  the  highway  through  which,  for  two  thousand 
years  and  more,  all  that  was  rarest  and  most  royal 
in  the  wide  earth  had  proudly  passed  —  processions 
of  kings  and  priests  and  captives,  compared  with 
which  those  of  the  Greeks  were  as  the  sport  of 
children ;  and  this  ere  Romulus  laid  the  first  stone  of 


80  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

his  far-famed  wall,  or  iEneas  fretted  the  blue  waves 
of  the  J^gean  with  his  adventurous  prow.  The 
pride  and  glory  of  a  world  had  here  its  center  ere 
Cadmus  brought  letters  into  Greece  or  Jacob  saw 
his  wondrous  vision  on  the  Judean  plains.  How 
insignificant  is  that  dramatic  justice  which  lends 
the  charm  to  romance,  compared  with  the  visible 
hand  of  vengeance  with  which  a  merciful  God  who 
loves  the  creatures  He  has  made  has  smitten  this 
stronghold  of  cruelty  —  wrenched  from  their  lofty 
places  the  statues  of  bloodthirsty  tyrants,  and  sent 
the  balm  of  moonlight  drifting  through  the  shattered 
walls,  and  mellowing  the  fallen  columns  where  once 
'power  dwelt  among  her  passions.' 

"We  sat  upon  a  broken  pedestal  in  the  great  court 
of  the  temple  and  let  the  wondrous  lesson  of  the 
place  fall  on  our  hearts.  One  isolated  column,  the 
last  remaining  fragment  of  a  stately  colonnade, 
outlined  itself  against  the  liquid  sky.  Its  white 
shaft  was  brilliant  in  the  moonlight,  and  its  broad 
capital,  corolla-shaped  like  the  lotus  flower,  held  far 
aloft,  like  a  lily's  cup  uplifted  for  the  dew.  Beyond 
was  the  shattered  propylon,  once  gay  with  the 
banners  of  Isis  and  Osiris,  but  frowning  now  like  the 
bastion  of  a  fortress;  while  still  beyond,  an  ava- 
lanche of  fallen  rocks  showed  where  ruin  had  struck 
the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Ammon  its  blow  of  doom. 

"  More  distant  still  was  the  forest  of  columns  which 


THE  TRAVELER  81 

has  been  the  wonder  of  all  travelers  —  unequaled  in 
its  kind  by  any  work  of  man.  It  numbers  one 
hundred  thirty-four  pillars,  seventy  feet  in  height 
and  thirty-five  in  circumference  (or  about  eleven  feet 
thick),  covered  from  base  to  abacus  with  carefully 
wrought  sculptures,  brilliantly  colored  in  their  palmy 
days.  A  single  one  among  these  massive  pillars 
had  been  wrested  from  the  foundation,  and  leaned 
heavily,  with  its  huge  architecture,  against  its  neigh- 
bor, perhaps  the  most  mournfully  significant  column 
that  human  hands  had  ever  carved  from  stone  and 
left  to  the  slow  canceration  of  time  and  ruin. 

"Last  of  all,  at  the  end  of  this  long  vista  which 
comprises  twenty-eight  centuries  of  human  history, 
gleamed  the  tapering  finger  of  the  largest  obelisk 
in  Egypt,  as  fresh  and  clear-cut  in  its  outline  as  on 
the  day  the  chisel  left  it  — ■'  the  chisel  held  by  a 
nameless  artisan  who  had  become  a  mummy  before 
Phidias  had  reared  the  Parthenon  or  Zeuxis  and 
Appelles  commenced  their  rivalries.  Against  this 
obelisk  leaned  an  old  Arab  in  voluminous  white 
turban,  and  at  its  base  were  seated  several  others, 
all  by  their  costumes  and  their  bearing  as  perfectly 
in  harmony  with  the  scene  as  human  accessories 
could  be,  and  lending  to  it  a  strange  charm  as  the 
mind  reverts  to  those  who  reared  this  temple,  and 
contrasts  with  theirs  the  insignificant  achievements 
of  their  descendants. 


82  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

"In  that  far-off  realm  of  our  endless  life  shall  we 
some  day  meet  these  mighty  builders  whose  work  we 
contemplate  under  these  moonlit  heavens?  What  a 
thought  is  that,  that  in  this  changeful  round  of 
being  we  shall  encounter  somewhere,  some  day,  the 
awful  king  Sesostris,  the  witching  Cleopatra,  the 
Pharaoh  overwhelmed  in  the  revengeful  sea. 

"  But  hark !  They  have  arrived,  the  four  and  forty 
whom  we  call  'the  others.'  In  phalanx  close  they 
ride  through  the  vast  courts,  among  the  hundred 
pillars;  some  with  cigars  in  mouth,  others  in  lively 
conversation,  and  all  at  a  brisk  trot.  One  jolly 
young  Englishman  fires  off  a  pistol  two  paces  from 
us,  at  the  base  of  the  lone  pillar  with  the  capital  of 
lotus  flower. 

"Our  donkey  boys  accumulate;  their  shrill  voices 
pierce  the  ruined  temple  through  and  through;  their 
offers  of  a  porcelain  scarabseus,  a  glass  sphinx,  a 
scrap  of  papyrus,  a  chip  of  mummy  case,  become 
vociferous.  We  climb  with  much  alacrity  upon  our 
donkeys  and  hurriedly  gallop  back  across  the  wide 
and  pleasant  plain  to  our  steamer  at  Luxor." 


liliSV  COTTACK 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  ORGANIZER  AND   LEADER 

Upon  the  summits  of  lofty  mountain  ranges  which 
serve  as  the  great  watersheds  of  our  country,  the 
merest  apparent  accident  —  as  a  puff  of  wind  or 
the  encountering  of  a  chance  resistant  force  in  tree 
or  shrub  —  determines  whether  a  particular  rain- 
drop shall  lend  itself  to  the  streams  which  flow 
eastward,  or  whether  it  shall  become  a  part  of  the 
mighty  waters  which  sweep  toward  west  or  south. 
It  is  an  old  figure  and  yet  one  which  comes  con- 
tinually to  mind  in  considering  the  crowning  epoch 
in  the  life  of  Frances  E.  Willard. 

Who  w^ould  have  prophesied  in  1874  that  Miss 
Willard  was  to  be  the  leader  of  the  women's  tem- 
perance movement  in  America?  Dean  of  the 
Northwestern  Female  College  and  Professor  of 
Esthetics  in  the  Northwestern  University,  in  her 
were  embodied  much  of  nineteenth  century  civiliza- 
tion and  culture.  The  Shakespeare  and  the  musical 
clubs  knew  her,  as  did  meetings  for  the  discussion 
of  Oriental  and  Greek  thought  and  all  the  delightful 
dominating  external  culture  of  the  mind  of  the  day. 
She  was  admired  by  the  great,  loved  where  love 

83 


84  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

was  a  pride.  Leading,  active,  regnant,  she  may  have 
seemed  in  danger  of  being  forever  bound  by  outward 
success  and  applause.  But  God  had  long  before 
planted  in  her  soul  in  abundant  measure  a  store  of 
vital,  childlike  love  and  worship  to  remain  there  as 
a  germ  capable  of  responding  to  the  loving  warmth 
of  His  own  radiant  energy  whenever  the  hour  of 
the  heart's  springtime  should  come.  She  herself 
has  quoted  George  Meredith's  saying,  "A  check  to 
the  pride  of  a  boy  will  frequently  divert  him  to  the 
paths  where  lie  his  subtlest  powers,"  adding  with 
winsome  humor,  "and  girls  are  sometimes  very 
boyish." 

God  had  larger  purposes  for  her  than  she  knew, 
and  as  she  approached  the  widening  yet  lonely  path 
of  philanthropy  up  which  she  was  to  toil,  He  gently 
and  wisely  prepared  her  for  the  change  by  opening 
in  her  thoughts  new  channels  of  interest  in  which  all 
the  currents  of  her  life  were  soon  to  flow  with  a 
deeper,  purer,  stronger  tide  than  the  old  channels 
had  ever  known.  It  was  the  year  of  the  Woman's 
Temperance  Crusade;  there  had  been  no  unusual 
activity  in  temperance  circles,  but  suddenly,  without 
warning,  the  crusade  began.  As  if  by  magic,  armies 
of  women  —  delicate,  cultured,  home  women  — 
filled  the  streets  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  Ohio, 
going  in  pathetic  procession  from  the  door  of  the 
home  to  that  of  the  saloon,  singing,  praying,  plead- 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER      85 

ing  with  the  rumsellers  with  all  the  eloquence  of 
their  mother-hearts.  The  movement  ran  like  wild- 
fire over  the  land,  breaking  out  here,  there,  and 
everywhere  without  known  concert  of  action.  "It 
was  like  the  fires  we  used  to  kindle  on  the  western 
prairies,"  Miss  Willard  said;  "a  match  and  a  wisp 
of  dry  grass  were  all  that  were  needed,  and  behold 
the  magnificent  spectacle  of  a  prairie  on  fire  sweeping 
across  the  landscape,  swift  as  a  thousand  untrained 
steeds  and  no  more  to  be  captured  than  a  hurricane." 
All  this  could  not  fail  to  arouse  Miss  Willard's 
attention.  She  was  moved  to  help,  although 
she  might  not  leave  her  own  place  to  do  it.  All 
through  this  battle  of  "Home  versus  Saloon,"  she 
read  every  word  she  could  find  about  "that  whirl- 
wind of  the  Lord  which  in  fifty  days  swept  the  liquor 
traffic  out  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  towns  and 
villages."  She  took  pains  to  let  her  sentiments  and 
her  sympathies  be  widely  known,  giving  to  her  pupils 
in  rhetoric  such  novel  essay  themes  as  "John  B. 
Gough,"  "Neal  Dow,"  and  "Does  Prohibition 
Prohibit?" 

Her  brother,  Oliver  A.  Willard,  then  editor  of  the 
Chicago  Evening  Mail,  gave  favorable  and  full 
reports  of  the  Crusading  bands,  saying  privately 
to  his  sister,  "  I  shall  speak  just  as  well  of  the  women 
as  I  dare  to"  —  "a  most  characteristic  editorial 
remark,  though   more  frequently  acted  out  than 


86  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

uttered."  And  to  the  young  Dean  came  this 
illumination:  "It  occurred  to  me,  strange  to  say, 
for  the  first  time,  that  I  ought  to  work  for  the  good 
cause  just  where  I  was  —  that  everybody  ought. 
Thus  I  first  received  'the  arrest  of  thought'  concern- 
ing which,  in  a  thousand  different  towns,  I  have  since 
then  tried  to  speak,  and  I  believe  that  in  this  simple 
change  of  personal  attitude,  from  passive  to  aggres- 
sive, lies  the  only  force  that  can  free  this  land  from 
the  drink  habit  and  the  liquor  traflBc.  It  would  be 
like  dynamite  under  the  saloon  if  just  where  he  is, 
the  minister  would  begin  active  work  against  it; 
if  just  where  he  is,  the  teacher  would  instruct  his 
pupils;  if  just  where  he  is,  the  voter  would  dedicate 
his  ballot  to  this  movement;  and  so  on,  through  the 
shining  ranks  of  the  great  powers  that  make  for 
righteousness,  from  father  and  mother  to  kinder- 
garten toddlers,  if  each  were  this  day  doing  what 
each  could  just  where  he  is." 

The  wave  of  the  Crusade  struck  Chicago.  A  band 
of  women  visited  the  City  Council  to  petition  for 
enforcement  of  the  Sunday-closing  law.  They  were 
treated  with  mocking  slight  and  rudely  jostled  on 
the  street  by  a  band  of  rough  men,  half  out  for  a 
lark,  half  ugly.  This  was  in  March,  1874.  Miss 
Willard  was  thoroughly  aroused.  "Treat  any 
woman  with  contumely,  and  as  soon  as  she  hears  of 
it  every  other  woman  in  the  world  worth  anything 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND   LEADER      87 

feels  as  if  she  also  were  hurt."  Busy  as  she  was,  it 
was  not  many  days  before  she  found  time  publicly 
to  declare  this  as  "everybody's  war,"  and  to  assure 
the  temperance  women  she  was  with  them  heart 
and  mind  and  hand.  She  made  a  second  speech, 
and  a  third,  so  successfully  that  she  was  in  demand  at 
temperance  gatherings.  Her  heart  warmed  to  the 
work.  "To  serve  such  a  cause  would  be  utterly 
enthralling,"  she  exclaimed,  "if  I  only  had  more 
time  —  if  I  were  more  free!"  Within  three  months 
she  was  free,  perfectly  free,  to  choose,  to  do,  or  to 
leave  undone,  to  continue  work  along  her  own  lines 
or  to  go  into  the  new  temperance  field,  differences 
of  opinion  between  herself  and  the  President  of  the 
University  on  matters  of  government  having  led  to 
her  resignation  from  the  position  of  Dean  of  the 
Woman's  College.  In  the  sleepless  night  that  fol- 
lowed there  came  a  heavenly  vision  to  which  she 
was  not  disobedient,  bringing  to  her  soul  the  tranquil 
knowledge  that  "the  Lord  is  real.  His  whole  nature 
is  Love." 

Miss  Willard's  interest  in  the  Crusade  soon  carried 
her  to  the  East  to  study  the  temperance  movement 
and  to  confer  with  its  leaders  in  New  York  City, 
Boston,  and  Portland.  She  went  down  into  the 
slums  of  New  York,  saw  their  mission  temperance 
work,  and  there  the  fire  of  pity,  that  never  left  her, 
was  kindled  in  her  soul  for  the  physical  and  mental 


88  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

misery  that  intemperance  causes  among  the  poor. 
She  attended  the  first  Gospel  temperance  camp 
meeting  known  in  temperance  annals,  at  Old  Or- 
chard, Maine,  listened  to  the  story  of  the  "Maine 
Law"  from  the  lips  of  General  Neal  Dow,  and  for 
the  first  time  met  Mrs.  Lillian  M.  N.  Stevens,  of 
Portland,  who  became  her  strong  and  dependable 
coadjutor  and  then  her  successor.  It  was  in  a 
Portland  hotel,  while  she  wondered  where  money 
was  to  come  from  to  meet  her  own  and  her  mother's 
expenses,  that  she  opened  the  Bible  lying  on  the 
table  and  read  the  verse  that  "clinched  her  faith  for 
this  difficult  emergency":  "Trust  in  the  Lord  and 
do  good;  so  shalt  thou  dwell  in  the  land,  and  verily 
thou  shalt  be  fed." 

Going  to  Boston  for  further  counsel  and  bending 
all  her  energies  to  find  "where  to  stand  within  the 
charmed  circle  of  the  temperance  reform,"  she  waited 
and  watched  for  providential  intimations.  Mean- 
while many  and  varied  offers  came  from  the  edu- 
cational field,  tempting  in  respect  to  their  wide  out- 
look and  large  promise  of  financial  relief.  "In  this 
dilemma,"  so  we  read  her  record,  "I  consulted  my 
friends  as  to  their  sense  of  my  duty.  Every  one  of 
them,  including  my  dear  mother  and  my  revered 

counselor.  Bishop  S ,  united  in  the  decision  that 

he  thus  expressed:  'If  you  were  not  dependent  on 
your  own  exertions  for  the  supply  of  current  needs 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER      89 

I  would  say  be  a  philanthropist,  but  of  all  work  the 
temperance  work  pays  least  and  you  cannot  afford 
to  take  it  up.  I  therefore  counsel  you  to  remain  in 
your  chosen  and  successful  field  of  the  higher  educa- 
tion.'" "No  one,"  she  continues,  "stood  by  me  in 
the  preference  I  freely  expressed  to  join  the  crusade 
women  except  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore,  who  sent 
me  a  letter  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  new  line  of 
work  and  predicted  success  for  me  therein." 

While  visiting  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
Miss  Willard  received  two  letters  on  the  same  day. 
The  first  was  from  Rev.  Dr.  Van  Norman,  of  New 
York  City,  offering  her  the  position  of  Lady  Prin- 
cipal of  his  elegant  school  for  young  women,  with  a 
salary  of  $2,400  and  such  duties  as  she  might  choose. 
The  other  was  from  Mrs.  Louise  S.  Rounds,  of 
Chicago,  begging  her  to  take  the  presidency  of  the 
Chicago  branch  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union,  while  she  confessed  its  present  weak- 
ness of  organization  and  its  financial  inadequacy. 
"It  has  come  to  me,"  said  Mrs.  Rounds,  "as  I 
believe  from  the  Lord,  that  you  ought  to  be  our 
president."  Our  temperance  Greatheart  did  not 
hesitate;  the  offer  of  Dr.  Van  Norman  was  declined, 
that  of  Mrs.  Rounds  accepted.  This  was  the  real 
election  of  Frances  E.  Willard's  life  —  this  was  her 
choice  of  a  career. 

"  No  words  can  adequately  characterize  the  change 


90  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

wrought  in  my  life  by  this  decision,"  wrote  our 
leader.  "Instead  of  peace,  I  was  to  participate  in 
war;  instead  of  the  sweetness  of  home,  never  more 
dearly  loved  than  I  had  loved  it,  I  was  to  become  a 
wanderer  on  the  face  of  the  earth;  instead  of  libraries, 
I  was  to  frequent  public  halls  and  railway  cars; 
instead  of  scholarly  and  cultured  men,  I  was  to  see 
the  dregs  of  saloon  and  gambling  house  and  haunt  of 
shame.  But  women  who  were  among  the  fittest 
Gospel  survivals  were  to  be  my  comrades;  little 
children  were  to  be  gathered  from  near  and  from  far 
in  the  Loyal  Temperance  Legion,  and  whoever  keeps 
such  company  should  sing  a  psalm  of  joy,  solemn  as 
it  is  sweet.  Hence  I  have  felt  that  great  promotion 
came  to  me  when  I  was  counted  worthy  to  be  a 
worker  in  the  organized  Crusade  for  '  God  and  Home 
and  Native  Land.'  Temporary  differences  may 
seem  to  separate  some  of  us  for  a  while,  but  I  believe 
with  all  my  heart  that  farther  on  we  shall  be  found 
walking  once  more  side  by  side." 

On  her  homeward  journey  the  heaven-born  leader 
of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  was  to 
receive  her  Crusade  baptism.  It  was  in  Pittsburg. 
Miss  Willard's  vivid  description  of  the  scene 
tells  us: 

The  Crusade  had  lingered  in  this  dim-colored 
city  well-nigh  a  year,  and  when  I  visited  my  old 
friends  at  the  Female  College  I  spoke  of  it  with 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER      91 

enthusiasm,  and  of  the  women  who  were,  as  I  judged 
from  a  morning  paper,  still  engaged  in  it  here.  They 
looked  upon  me  with  astonishment  when  I  proposed 
to  seek  out  those  women  and  go  with  them  to  the 
saloons;  but,  too  polite  to  disappoint  me,  they  had  me 
piloted  by  some  of  the  factotums  of  the  place  to  the 
headquarters  of  the  Crusade.  Here  I  was  warmly 
welcomed,  and  soon  found  mj'self  walking  down 
street  arm  in  arm  with  a  young  teacher  from  the 
public  school,  who  said  she  had  a  habit  of  coming  in 
to  add  one  to  the  procession  when  her  day's  duties 
were  over. 

We  paused  in  front  of  Sheffner's  saloon,  on 
Market  street.  The  ladies  ranged  themselves  along 
the  curbstone,  for  they  had  been  forbidden  in  any- 
wise to  incommode  the  passers-by,  being  dealt  with 
much  more  strictly  than  a  drunken  man  or  a  heap 
of  dry-goods  boxes  would  be.  At  a  signal  from  our 
gray-haired  leader,  a  sweet-voiced  woman  began  to 
sing,  "Jesus  the  water  of  life  will  give, "  all  our  voices 
soon  blending  in  the  song.  I  think  it  was  the  most 
novel  spectacle  that  I  recall.  There  stood  women  of 
undoubted  religious  devotion  and  the  highest  charac- 
ter, most  of  them  crowned  with  the  glory  of  gray 
hairs.  Along  the  stony  pavement  of  that  stoniest 
of  cities  rumbled  the  heavy  wagons,  many  of  them 
carriers  of  beer;  between  us  and  the  saloon  in  front  of 
which  we  were  drawn  up  in  line,  passed  the  motley 
throng,  almost  every  man  lifting  his  hat,  and  even 
little  newsboys  doing  the  same.  It  was  American 
manhood's  tribute  to  Christianity  and  to  woman- 
hood, and  it  was  significant  and  full  of  pathos.  The 
leader  had  already  asked  the  saloonkeeper  if  we 


92  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

might  enter,  and  he  had  declined,  else  the  prayer 
meeting  would  have  occurred  inside  his  door.  A 
sorrowful  old  lady,  whose  only  son  had  gone  to  ruin 
through  that  very  death-trap,  knelt  on  the  cold, 
moist  pavement  and  offered  a  broken-hearted  prayer, 
while  all  our  heads  were  bowed. 

At  a  signal  we  moved  on,  and  the  next  saloon- 
keeper permitted  us  to  enter.  I  had  no  more  idea 
of  the  inward  appearance  of  a  saloon  than  if  there 
had  been  no  such  place  on  earth.  I  knew  nothing 
of  its  high,  heavily  corniced  bar,  its  barrels  with  the 
ends  all  pointed  toward  the  looker-on,  each  barrel 
being  furnished  with  a  faucet;  its  shelves  glittering 
with  decanters  and  cut  glass,  its  floors  thickly  strewn 
with  sawdust,  and  here  and  there  a  table  with  chairs 
—  nor  of  its  abundant  fumes,  sickening  to  healthy 
nostrils.  The  tall,  stately  lady  who  led  us,  placed 
her  Bible  on  the  bar  and  read  a  psalm,  whether 
hortatory  or  imprecatory  I  do  not  remember,  but 
the  spirit  of  these  Crusaders  was  so  gentle  I  think  it 
must  have  been  the  former.  Then  we  sang  "Rock  of 
Ages"  as  I  thought  I  had  never  heard  it  sung  before, 
with  a  tender  confidence  to  the  height  of  which  one 
does  not  rise  in  the  easy-going,  regulation  prayer 
meeting,  and  then  one  of  the  older  women  whispered 
to  me  softly  that  the  leader  wished  to  know  if  I 
would  pray.  It  was  strange,  perhaps,  but  I  felt  not 
the  least  reluctance  as  I  knelt  on  the  sawdust  floor, 
with  a  group  of  earnest  hearts  around  me,  and  behind 
them,  filling  every  corner  and  extending  out  into  the 
street,  a  crowd  of  unwashed,  unkempt,  hard-looking 
drinking  men.  I  was  conscious  that  perhaps  never 
in  my  life,  save  beside  my  sister  Mary's  dying  bed, 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER      93 

had  I  prayed  as  truly  as  I  did  then.  This  was  my 
Crusade  baptism.  The  next  day  I  went  on  to  the 
West,  and  within  a  week  had  been  made  president 
of  the  Chicago  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union, 

The  story  of  Miss  Willard's  early  Chicago  work 
reads  like  a  romance.  Into  it  she  flung  herself  with 
the  ardor  of  a  St.  Francis  d'Assisi.  She  made  the 
little  great,  the  weak  a  power.  She  who  had  studied 
books,  now  studied  humanity.  Delighting  in  music 
and  in  art,  she  gave  herself  with  abandon  to  scenes 
the  world  would  consider  the  reverse  of  artistic. 
Once  she  said  to  a  friend  who  lamented  that  she  had 
relinquished  the  study  of  art,  "What  greater  art 
than  to  try  to  restore  the  image  of  God  to  faces  that 
have  lost  it?"  For  music  she  now  had  Gospel 
hymns,  not  always  rendered  effectively  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  musical  critic,  but  no  grand 
oratorio  could  have  thrilled  her  soul  as  did  those 
hymns  sung  by  men  upon  whose  lips  the  praises  of 
God  were  like  the  unaccustomed  lispings  of  babes. 
Nor  was  it  ease  or  the  prompting  of  cultured  taste 
alone  which  Frances  Willard  sacrificed;  she  endured 
real  hardship,  the  prosaic  hardship  of  poverty,  and 
even  at  times  of  hunger.  So  determined  was  she  in 
her  heroic  soul  to  be  led  of  God  alone  that  she  would 
not  suffer  the  women  of  the  Union  to  speak  of  com- 
pensation, and  they,  thinking  that  in  some  unknown 


94  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

way  abundant  means  were  supplied  her,  accepted  her 
service  all  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  the  slender 
figure  which  stood  before  them  day  after  day  had 
often  walked  many  miles  because  she  did  not  possess 
the  "prerequisite  nickel  for  car  fare,"  or  that  she 
came  to  them  hungry  because  she  had  no  money 
with  which  to  buy  bread. 

When  Madam  Willard's  common  sense  prevailed 
and  the  situation  was  revealed,  their  regret  partook 
almost  of  the  nature  of  remorse,  and  a  modest  but 
adequate  salary  was  immediately  provided.  When 
persuaded  that  her  position  was  no  longer  tenable. 
Miss  Willard  did  not  regret  the  experience  of  those 
months,  which  gave  her  an  insight  into  human  hearts 
and  a  revelation  of  human  needs.  Often  as  she  went 
about  the  great  city,  searching  for  the  friendless  and 
forgotten,  she  had  said  to  herself,  "I  am  a  better 
friend  than  you  dream;  I  know  more  about  you  than 
you  think,  for,  bless  God,  I  am  hungry  too."  Thus 
early  in  her  temperance  career  we  catch  the  blended 
strains  of  tender  sympathy  and  resolute  determina- 
tion, the  strong  notes  of  the  harmony  that  rang 
through  all  her  after  life. 

From  the  outset  of  her  Chicago  work  it  was  ap- 
parent that  a  wider  sphere  was  awaiting  her,  and 
when  the  organizing  convention  of  the  Illinois 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  was  held  in 
Springfield  in  October,  1874,  she  was  elected  to  the 
office  of  corresponding  secretary.     In  August  of  the 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND   LEADER      95 

same  year  there  had  gone  forth  from  Chautauqua, 
New  York,  a  call  to  the  women  who  had  been  in- 
terested in  the  Woman's  Temperance  Crusade  to 
meet  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  November  18-20,  for  the 
purpose  of  effecting  a  permanent  national  organiza- 
tion. Thither  went  Frances  Willard  to  clasp  hands 
with  those  whose  very  names  had  thrilled  her  heart 
as  she  had  read  of  their  brave  warfare  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  home.  They  recognized  in  her  a  most 
valuable  ally,  and  she  was  placed  upon  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions,  one  of  the  most  important  positions 
within  the  gift  of  the  convention.  In  this  capacity 
she  wrote  the  famous  resolution  which  was  in  its 
essence  her  own  spirit  and  the  ruling  principle  of 
her  life : 

Resolved,  That,  recognizing  that  our  cause  is  and 
will  be  combated  by  mighty,  determined  and  re- 
lentless foes,  we  will,  trusting  in  Him  who  is  Prince 
of  Peace,  meet  argument  with  argument,  misjudg- 
ment  with  patience,  denunciation  with  kindness,  and 
all  our  difficulties  and  dangers  with  prayer. 

Although  Miss  Willard  had  been  elected  to  the 
office  of  corresponding  secretary,  she  might  without 
doubt  have  been  made  president  had  she  not  prompt- 
ly refused  to  have  her  name  used,  saying  that  she 
preferred  to  learn  of  those  who  were  veterans  in  this 
warfare  rather  than  assume  for  herself  a  position  of 
such  responsibility. 


96  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

Within  a  few  brief  months  after  her  choice  of  a 
career  we  find  Miss  Willard's  guiding  hand  upon 
three  distinctively  important  positions  in  local, 
state,  and  national  unions.  Her  history  in  those 
days  made  itself  with  startling  rapidity.  When  once 
the  hour  had  found  the  woman  it  was  as  if  she  had 
been  from  the  beginning  of  her  life  filling  the  place, 
her  fitness  for  which  was  so  universally  recognized. 
Five  years  later,  in  1879,  she  was  elected  to  the 
presidency  of  the  National  Union,  and  her  every 
heart-beat  was  from  that  day  given  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  organization  which  was  far  dearer 
to  her  than  life  itself.  Indeed,  the  National  Union 
was  bounded  by  the  compass  of  her  great  thought, 
warmed  by  the  sunshine  of  her  all-embracing  love 
and  nourished  by  her  very  life-blood.  Rarely  has 
the  world  seen  so  complete  a  death  of  self,  so  far 
as  personal  aims  are  concerned,  or  so  glorious  a 
resurrection  of  the  true  self  in  the  lives  of  countless 
others. 

While  corresponding  secretary  of  the  National 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  in  the  winter 
of  1877,  Miss  Willard  went  to  Boston  by  invitation 
of  Dwight  L.  Moody,  to  conduct  daily  meetings  for 
women  in  connection  with  his  revival  services,  and 
for  three  memorable  months  the  Gospel  according 
to  "Saint  Frances"  was  the  magnet  for  mother- 
hearted    women,    young    and    old,    who    crowded 


THE   ORGANIZER  AND   LEADER      97 

Berkeley  street,  Park  street,  and  Clarendon  street 
churches,  giving  sisterly  help  to  the  young  leader, 
and  learning  as  never  before  the  meaning  of  the  Love 
that  never  faileth  and  of  "  that  light  which  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world."  And  not 
alone  were  women's  hearts  warmed  and  uplifted  by 
the  glow  and  enthusiasm  fresh  from  the  spirit  of  this 
woman  evangel,  for  to  many  a  manly  heart  was 
revealed  through  her  the  truth  that  there  is  neither 
male  nor  female  in  Christ  Jesus. 

On  the  fly-leaf  of  the  Bible  Miss  Willard  studied 
during  these  "Boston  days,"  presented  to  her  by  the 
Central  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  of 
Chicago,  at  a  farewell  reception  in  Farwell  Hall,  we 
find  this  entry :  "  My  first  whole  day  of  real,  spiritual, 
joyful,  loving  study  of  the  kernel  of  God's  word, 
simply  desirous  to  learn  my  Father's  will,  is  this 
17th  of  February,  1877,  with  the  Boston  work  just 
begun.  And  on  this  sweet,  eventful  day,  in  which, 
with  every  hour  of  study,  the  Bible  has  grown  dearer, 
I  take  as  my  life-motto  henceforth,  humbly  asking 
God's  grace  that  I  may  measure  up  to  it,  this  wonder- 
ful passage  from  Paul:  'And  whatsoever  ye  do  in 
word  or  deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
giving  thanks  to  God  and  the  Father  by  Him.' 
Col.  3:17." 

"Sweet,  eventful  day"  to  her,  and  its  anniversary, 
twenty-one  years  later,  was  to  witness   "the  sad 


98  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

hour  selected  from  all  years"  —  nay,  the  glad  hour 
when  her  soul 

"Began  to  beckon  like  a  star 
From  the  abode  where  the  eternal  are." 

In  March,  1878,  her  brother  Oliver,  of  whose  great 
gifts  and  genial  nature  Miss  Willard  could  never 
say  enough,  suddenly  passed  away,  and  the  editor- 
ship of  his  paper,  the  Chicago  Evening  Post,  was  for 
many  weeks  bravely  carried  by  Miss  Willard  and 
her  intrepid  sister-in-law. 

A  multitude  of  memories  grave  and  gay  overwhelm 
one  who  attempts  to  chronicle  Miss  Willard's  life 
in  its  years  of  white-ribbon  leadership:  the  pioneer 
work  in  the  far  West,  the  visits  to  every  province 
of  Canada,  the  campaigns  for  constitutional  amend- 
ments in  various  states,  constructive  work  for  the 
World's  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  and 
the  International  Council  of  Women,  the  writing 
of  six  or  eight  books  in  addition  to  an  autobiography, 
the  editorship  of  The  Union  Signal,  the  presentation 
of  Mrs.  Hayes'  portrait  to  the  White  House,  and 
heroic  work  for  enterprises  aflolliated  at  that  time 
with  the  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union.  Yet  these  are  not  a  tithe  of  the  interests  that, 
in  addition  to  continuous  public  speaking  and  inces- 
sant correspondence,  pressed  their  claims  upon  a 
heart  that  was  always  "at  leisure  from  itself,  to 
soothe  and  sympathize." 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER   99 

In  October,  1887,  the  Rock  River,  Illinois,  Con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  elected 
Miss  Willard  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference 
to  meet  in  New  York  City,  thus  making  her  one  of 
the  first  five  women  elected  to  the  great  Quadrennial. 

In  Miss  Willard 's  autobiography,  "Glimpses  of 
Fifty  Years,"  she  tells  us  that  nothing  could  exceed 
her  surprise  when  she  learned  that  the  Bishops  had 
prejudged  the  entire  case  in  their  opening  address. 
The  Conference  voted  against  seating  the  women 
delegates,  although  the  champions  of  equahty  made 
a  splendid  record,  of  which  they  will  be  prouder  with 
each  added  year. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER 

(Continued) 

As  an  organizer  Miss  Willard  possessed  rare 
powers  of  discernment,  and  a  still  more  rare  mag- 
netism. Like  the  "Ancient  Mariner,"  she  could 
have  said: 

"Whenever  that  his  face  I  see, 
I  know  the  man  who  must  hear  me  — 
To  him  I  tell  my  tale"; 

only  the  message  was  primarily  to  woman,  because 
she  saw  that  the  interests  of  the  home,  of  childhood, 
of  a  purer  manhood,  were  bound  up  in  the  elevation 
of  women,  not  because  she  made  the  mistake  of 
which  she  accused  the  author  of  "  Getting  On  in  the 
World,"  namely,  "squinting  at  humanity  and  seeing 
only  half  of  it."  She  saw  the  real  significance  of  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union.  In  the  new 
society  she  saw  the  first  attempt  to  unite  women  into 
an  organization  which  should  make  the  influence  of 
womanhood  an  appreciable  power  in  the  world. 
She  saw  that  the  army  called  into  existence  by  the 
ravages  of  the  saloon  upon  the  home  could,  with 
proper  leadership,  be  arrayed  likewise  against  every 

100 


\^ 


(2:^^!«r5*;«^^!%&ft  ^ 


PRESIDENT  NATIONAL  WOMAN'S  CHRISTIAN 
TEMPERANCE  LNION 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER     101 

other  evil  which  threatens  the  home  and  strikes  at 
our  civilization.  She  saw  in  it,  too,  a  great  educa- 
tional agency  for  women,  and  this  ideal  gave  strength 
and  courage  for  the  ceaseless  journeyings,  diflBcult 
and  distant,  which  were  to  mark  the  next  ten  years 
of  her  life.  Almost  immediately  upon  her  election 
to  the  national  presidency  she  began  that  wonderful 
tour  which  was  not  to  end  until  she  had  spoken  in 
every  city  and  town  of  ten  thousand  inhabitants 
in  the  United  States,  and  in  many  of  smaller  size. 
In  1883  she  traveled  30,000  miles,  visiting  every 
state  and  territory,  speaking  in  the  capital  cities 
of  all  save  Idaho  and  Arizona.  During  a  dozen 
years  she  averaged  one  meeting  a  day,  and  only  six 
weeks  in  a  year  for  mother-love  and  home.  Such  toil 
seems  superhuman  when  one  takes  into  account  the 
fact  that  the  weary  journeys  were  never  allowed  to 
interrupt  the  constant  flow  of  thought  and  work. 
To  Miss  Willard  a  railway  train  became  for  the  time 
being  only  another  Rest  Cottage  workshop,  and  the 
busy  fingers  were  constantly  flying  over  her  writing 
tablet  as  the  train  sped  on  its  swift  way.  Some  of 
her  most  inspired  and  inspiring  utterances  were 
given  to  the  world  under  these  conditions. 

She  seldom  turned  aside  for  sight-seeing.  A  trip 
to  Yellowstone  Park  was  relinquished  because  she 
found  that  thus  one  more  point  could  be  visited  and 
one  more  Union  organized.    The  goal  of  her  conse- 


102  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

crated  ambition  was  a  universal  sisterhood  united 
in  a  common  cause,  and  she  was  deaf  to  all  sounds 
and  blind  to  all  sights  which  might  lure  her  from 
that  goal.  She  aroused  in  the  women  who  rallied 
to  her  call  not  alone  a  deep  love  and  devotion  to 
herself,  but  a  new  faith  in  their  own  possibilities 
and  a  new  hope  for  the  race  of  which  she  was  a  part. 
One  cultured  Southern  woman,  who  later  occupied 
a  prominent  position  in  national  work,  has  said: 
"The  first  time  I  heard  her  I  lay  awake  all  night  for 
sheer  gladness.  It  was  such  a  wonderful  revelation 
to  me  that  a  woman  like  Miss  Willard  could  exist. 
I  thanked  God  and  took  courage  for  humanity." 
That  same  courage  has  been  breathed  into  unnum- 
bered lives.  Women,  "seeing  her  faith,"  have  had 
a  like  faith  kindled  in  their  own  hearts  —  a  faith  not 
alone  in  their  individual  ability,  but  in  the  power 
of  an  organized  womanhood.  No  wonder  that 
Unions,  state  and  local,  sprang  up  like  magic  wher- 
ever her  feet  trod.  She  brought  to  each  woman  that 
most  mighty  of  cohesive  forces,  mingled  faith  and 
love. 

By  far  the  larger  number  of  state  and  territorial 
Unions  in  the  South  and  in  the  far  West  call  Miss 
Willard  mother.  Her  first  trip  through  the  Southern 
States  marks  an  epoch  in  history.  "It  was  the  first 
ray  of  hope  that  had  come  into  our  lives  since  the 
war,"  said  one  gentle  woman  of  the  "solid  South." 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND   LEADER     103 

"We  had  been  sitting  dumb  and  crushed  amid  the 
wreckage  of  our  past,  and  it  seemed  as  if  there  were 
no  future  for  us;  but  Miss  Willard  came  and  held 
out  to  us  that  little  white  hand,  and  its  clasp  gave 
us  new  heart  and  new  hope.  She  made  the  white 
ribbon  God's  olive  branch  of  peace." 

Bishop  Stevens,  who,  as  Colonel  Stevens,  com- 
manded the  battery  that  fired  the  first  shot  on  Fort 
Sumter,  introduced  Miss  Willard  to  her  first  South- 
ern audience  in  Charleston,  saying,  "This  woman, 
this  Northern  woman,  this  Northern  temperance 
woman,  brings  us  the  magic  initials  W.  C.  T.  U. 
Shall  we  not  interpret  them  in  our  case  to  mean, 
We  Come  To  Unite  the  North  and  the  South,  and  We 
Come  To  Upset  the  liquor  traflSc  ? ' '  The  truth  of  this 
prophetic  utterance  was  seen  at  the  next  National 
Convention,  in  Washington,  D.  C,  when  Southern 
women  for  the  first  time  sat  side  by  side  with  their 
Northern  sisters,  saying  to  the  beloved  president  of 
them  all,  "We  have  enlisted  with  you  to  wage  a 
peaceful  war  for  God  and  Home  and  Native  Land." 

Miss  Willard  was  essentially  a  harmonizer,  loving 
peace  wnth  a  love  so  deep  that  she  would  make  any 
concession,  except  one  of  principle,  to  maintain  it. 
Her  power  to  organize  was  pre-eminent,  for  the 
organizer,  the  constructionist,  must  always  be  a  man 
or  a  woman  of  peace.  Yet  her  love  of  peace  never  took 
the  form  of  cowardly  inertia.    She  could  wage  most 


104  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

vigorous  warfare  and  prove  herself,  whenever  war 
seemed  necessary,  a  sternly  uncompromising  foe. 
With  a  nature  strong  yet  gentle,  firm  yet  pliable, 
it  may  be  seen  why  she  effected  the  largest  organiza- 
tion of  women  the  world  ever  has  known. 

Miss  Willard  disproved  Goethe's  statement  that 
women  are  ever  isolated,  ever  work  alone,  and  as  a 
suffrage  leader  in  Massachusetts  has  said,  "She  has 
shown  how  they  may  be  brought  together  in  a 
mighty  force  which,  wisely  directed,  may  revolution- 
ize the  world."  Whittier  well  summed  up  her  life 
work  in  these  memorable  lines: 

"She  knew  the  power  of  banded  ill, 
But  felt  that  love  was  stronger  still. 
And  organized  for  doing  good 
The  world's  united  womanhood." 

Miss  Willard's  genius  for  organizing  individuals 
is  written  upon  every  page  of  the  history  of  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union.  In  her 
own  words: 

Alone  we  can  do  little.  Separated,  we  are  the 
units  of  weakness,  but  aggregated,  we  become 
batteries  of  power.  Agitate,  educate,  organize 
—  these  are  the  deathless  watchwords  of  success. 
The  fingers  of  the  hand  can  do  little  alone, 
but,  correlated  into  a  fist,  they  become  formidable. 
The  plank  borne  here  and  there  by  the  sport  of  the 
wave  is  an  image  of  imbecility,  but  frame  a  thousand 
planks  of  heart  of  oak  into  a  hull,  put  in  your  engine 


THE   ORGANIZER  AND   LEADER     105 

with  its  heart  of  fire,  fit  out  your  ship,  and  it  shall 
cross  at  a  right  angle  those  same  waves  to  the  port 
it  has  purposed  to  attain.  We  want  all  those  like- 
minded  with  us,  who  would  put  down  the  dramshop, 
exalt  the  home,  redeem  manhood,  and  uplift  woman- 
hood, to  join  hands  with  us  for  organized  work 
according  to  a  plan.  It  took  the  allied  armies  to 
win  at  Waterloo,  and  the  alcohol  Napoleon  will 
capitulate  to  a  no  less  mighty  army. 

It  is  the  way  commerce  has  marched  across  the 
continents  and  captured  them  for  civilization  —  one 
by  one;  it  is  the  way  an  army  is  recruited  —  one  by 
one;  it  is  the  way  Christ's  Church  is  built  up  into 
power,  and  heaven  adds  to  its  souls  redeemed  — 
just  one  by  one. 

Women  of  the  Church,  the  Home,  the  School, 
will  you  not  rally  to  the  holy  call  of  individual  re- 
sponsibility and  systematically  united  effort? — 

"  For  the  cause  that  lacks  assistance. 
For  the  wrong  that  needs  resistance. 
For  the  future  in  the  distance. 
And  the  good  that  you  can  do! " 

The  human  biped  is  a  timid  creature,  who  loves 
to  march  in  platoons  rather  than  to  strike  out  swiftly 
and  alone;  but  he  carries  a  jewel  behind  the  forehead, 
and  is,  therefore,  the  single  sentient  creature  con- 
cerning whom  there  is  hope.  You  can  change  his 
opinions  though  they  are  bone  of  his  bone,  flesh  of 
his  flesh,  and  dearer  to  him  than  his  own  right  eye. 
There  are  forces  that  can  disintegrate  from  the 
igneous  rocks  of  his  prejudice  the  broader  stratifica- 
tions of  kindlier  custom  and  more  righteous  law. 
What  with  "line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept. 


106  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

here  a  little  and  there  a  little"  of  persuasion  founded 
upon  justice,  the  work  is  done. 

In  the  morning  of  its  life  every  movement  for 
man's  elevation  shines  out  with  a  light  like  that  of 
Rembrandt's  pictures,  narrow,  but  intense.  As  the 
day  deepens,  the  light  becomes  like  that  in  Raphael's 
pictures,  broad  and  all-comprehending.  So  it  is 
with  Christianity,  and  so,  as  white-ribboners  stead- 
fastly believe,  it  will  be  with  that  great  temperance 
reform  which  was  born  of  the  Gospel,  and  which  has 
been  designated  by  that  intrepid  leader,  Lady  Henry 
Somerset,  as  "an  embodied  prayer.' 

He  who  climbs,  sees.     Poets  tell  us  of 

"The  one  far-off,  divine  event, 
Toward  which  the  whole  creation  moves," 

and  in  this  mighty  movement  toward  the  power  that 
organization  only  can  bestow,  what  end  have  we 
in  view?  Is  it  fame,  fortune,  leadership.''  Not  as  I 
read  women's  hearts,  who  have  known  them  long 
and  well.  It  is  for  love's  sake  —  for  the  bringing  in 
of  peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men.  The  two  su- 
preme attractions  in  nature  are  gravitation  and 
cohesion.  That  of  cohesion  attracts  atom  to  atom, 
that  of  gravitation  attracts  all  atoms  to  a  common 
center.  We  find  in  this  the  most  conclusive  figure 
of  the  supremacy  of  love  to  God  over  any  human 
love,  the  true  relation  of  human  to  the  love  divine, 
and  the  conclusive  proof  that  in  organizing  for  the 
greatest  number's  greatest  good,  we  do  but  "think 
God's  thoughts  after  Him." 

White-ribbon  women  distinctly  disavow  any 
banding    together    of    women    as    malcontents    or 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND   LEADER     107 

hostiles  toward  the  correlated  other  half  of  the 
human  race.  Brute  force,  to  our  mind,  means  cus- 
tom as  opposed  to  reason,  prejudice  as  the  antagonist 
of  fair  play,  and  precedent  as  the  foe  of  common 
sense. 

It  was  a  beautiful  saying  of  the  earlier  Metho- 
dists, when  they  avowed  a  holy  life,  "  I  feel  nothing 
contrary  to  love."  But  the  widening  march  of 
Christianity  has  given  a  wonderfully  practical  sense 
to  such  words,  and  we  actually  mean  here  to-day  that 
whatever  in  custom  or  law  is  contrary  to  that  love 
of  one's  neighbor  which  would  give  to  him  or  her 
all  the  rights  and  privileges  that  one's  self  enjoys, 
is  but  a  relic  of  brute  force,  and  is  to  be  cast  out  as 
evil. 

And  because  woman  in  our  most  civilized  nation 
is  still  so  related  to  the  law  that  the  father  can  will 
away  an  unborn  child,  and  that  a  girl  of  seven  or 
ten  years  old  is  held  to  be  the  equal  partner  in  a 
crime  where  another  and  a  stronger  is  principal; 
because  she  is  in  so  many  ways  hampered  and 
harmed  by  laws  and  customs  pertaining  to  the  past, 
we  reach  out  hands  of  help  especially  to  her  that 
she  may  overtake  the  swift  marching  procession  of 
progress;  for  its  sake,  that  it  may  not  slacken  its 
speed  on  her  account,  as  much  as  for  hers  that  she 
be  not  left  behind.  We  thus  represent  the  human 
rather  than  the  woman  question,  and  our  voices 
unite  to  do  that  which  the  President  of  the  New  York 
Woman's  Club  beautifully  said  in  a  late  letter  to 
the  Club  of  Bombay : 

"  Tell  them  the  world  was  made  for  woman,  too." 


108  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

As  a  working  hypothesis,  no  age  and  no  race  of 
men  can  ever  go  beyond  Christ's  simple  dictum, 
"The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  you."  It  cometh 
not  by  observation;  that  is,  it  cometh  not  suddenly, 
but  little  by  little,  imperceptibly  as  one  particle 
after  another  is  added  to  one's  stature,  so  by  every 
thought,  word,  and  deed,  that  kingdom  has  woven 
its  warp  and  woof,  wrought  out  its  wonderful  beauty 
in  our  own  breasts.  All  pure  habits,  all  health  and 
sanity  of  brain,  make  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
The  steady  pulse,  the  calm  and  quiet  thought,  the 
splendid  equipoise  of  will,  the  patient  industry  that 
forges  right  straight  on  and  cannot  be  abashed  or 
turned  aside,  these  make  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
The  helpful  hand  outstretched  to  whatsoever  beside 
us  may  crawl  or  creep,  or  cling  or  climb,  is  a  hand 
whose  very  motion  is  part  of  the  dynamic  forces  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  spirit  of  God,  by  its 
divine  alchemy,  works  in  us  to  transform,  to  re-create, 
to  vivify  our  entire  being,  in  spirit,  soul,  and  body, 
until  we  ourselves  incarnate  a  little  section  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

The  deepest  billows  are  away  out  at  sea;  they 
never  come  in  sight  of  shore.  These  waves  are  like 
the  years  of  God.  Upon  the  shore  line  of  our  earthly 
life  come  the  waves  of  the  swift  years;  they  bound 
and  break  and  are  no  more.  But  far  out  upon  eter- 
nity's bosom  are  the  great,  wide,  endless  waves  that 
make  the  years  of  God;  they  never  strike  upon  the 
shore  of  time.  In  all  the  flurry  and  the  foam  about 
us,  let  us  bend  our  heads  to  listen  to  the  great 
anthem  of  that  far-off  sea,  for  our  life  barks  shall 
soon  be  cradled  there;  we  are  but  building  here,  the 


THE   ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER     109 

launch  is  not  far  off,  and  then  the  boundless  ocean 
of  the  years  of  God. 

Miss  Willard's  magnificent  conception  of  the  nec- 
essary correlation  of  reform  forces,  her  influence  in 
allying  so  many  other  moral  forces  with  the  original 
purpose  of  the  Crusade,  has  made  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union  the  most  broadly  com- 
prehensive organization  the  world  has  ever  known. 
This  "Do  Everything  Policy"  she  thus  defines: 

When  we  began  the  delicate,  diflBcult,  and  danger- 
ous operation  of  dissecting  out  the  alcohol  nerve  from 
the  body  politic,  we  did  not  realize  the  intricacy  of 
the  undertaking,  nor  the  distances  that  must  be 
traversed  by  the  scalpel  of  investigation  and  research. 
More  than  twenty  years  have  elapsed  since  the  call 
to  battle  sounded  its  bugle  note  among  the  homes 
and  hearts  of  Hillsboro,  Ohio.  One  thought,  senti- 
ment, and  purpose  animated  those  saintly  Praying 
Bands,  whose  name  will  never  die  out  from  human 
history:  "Brothers,  we  beg  of  you  not  to  drink  and 
not  to  sell !"  This  was  the  single  wailing  note  of  these 
moral  Paganinis,  playing  on  one  string.  It  caught 
the  universal  ear  and  set  the  key  of  that  mighty 
orchestra,  organized  with  so  much  toil  and  hard- 
ship, in  which  the  tender  and  exalted  strain  of  the 
Crusade  violin  still  soars  aloft,  but  upborne  now  by 
the  clanging  cornets  of  science,  the  deep  trombones 
of  legislation,  and  the  thunderous  drums  of  politics 
and  parties.  The  "Do  Everything  Policy"  was  not 
of  our  choosing,  but  is  an  evolution  as  inevitable  as 
any  traced  by  the  naturalist,  or  described  by  the 


110  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

historian.  Woman's  genius  for  details  and  her  pa- 
tient steadfastness  in  following  the  enemies  of  those 
she  loves  through  every  lane  of  life,  have  led  her 
to  antagonize  the  alcohol  habit  and  the  liquor 
traffic  just  where  they  are,  wherever  that  may  be. 
If  she  does  this,  since  they  are  everywhere,  her 
policy  will  be,  "Do  Everything." 

A  ®ne-sided  movement  makes  one-sided  advo- 
cates. Virtues,  like  hounds,  hunt  in  packs.  Total 
abstinence  is  not  the  crucial  virtue  in  life  that  ex- 
cuses financial  crookedness,  defamation  of  char- 
acter, or  habits  of  impurity.  The  fact  that  one's 
father  was,  and  one's  self  is,  a  bright  and  shining 
light  in  the  total  abstinence  galaxy,  does  not  give  one 
a  vantage  ground  for  high-handed  behavior  toward 
those  who  have  not  been  trained  to  the  special 
virtue  that  forms  the  central  idea  of  the  temperance 
movement.  We  have  known  persons  who,  because 
they  had  "  never  touched  a  drop  of  liquor,"  set  them- 
selves up  as  if  they  belonged  to  a  royal  line,  but 
whose  tongues  were  as  biting  as  alcohol  itself  and 
whose  narrowness  had  no  competitor  save  a  straight 
line.  An  all-round  movement  can  only  be  carried 
forward  by  all-round  advocates;  a  scientific  age 
requires  the  study  of  every  subject  in  its  correlations. 
It  was  once  supposed  that  light,  heat,  and  electricity 
were  wholly  separate  entities;  it  is  now  believed,  and 
practically  proved,  that  they  are  but  different  modes 
of  motion.  Standing  in  the  valley,  we  look  up  and 
think  we  see  an  isolated  mountain;  climbing  to  its 
top,  we  see  that  it  is  but  one  member  of  a  range  of 
mountains,  many  of  them  of  well-nigh  equal  alti- 
tude. 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER     111 

Some  bright  women  who  have  opposed  the  "Do 
Everything  PoHcy,"  used  as  their  favorite  illustra- 
tion a  flowing  river,  and  expatiated  on  the  ruin  that 
would  follow  if  that  river  (which  represents  their 
Do  One  Thing  Policy)  were  diverted  into  many  chan- 
nels; but  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  most 
useful  of  all  rivers  is  the  Nile,  and  that  the  agricul- 
tural economy  of  Egypt  consists  in  the  effort  to 
spread  its  waters  upon  as  many  fields  as  possible. 
It  is  not  for  the  river's  sake  that  it  flows  through  the 
country,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  fertility  it  can  bring 
upon  the  adjoining  fields,  and  this  is  pre-eminently 
true  of  the  temperance  reform. 

Let  us  not  be  disconcerted,  but  stand  bravely 
by  that  blessed  trinity  of  movements.  Prohibition, 
Woman's  Liberation,  and  Labor's  Uplift. 

Everything  is  not  in  the  Temperance  Reform, 
but  the  Temperance  Reform  should  be  in  every- 
thing. 

"Organized  Mother-Love"  is  the  best  defini- 
tion of  the  white-ribbon  movement,  and  it  can 
have  no  better  motto  than:  "Make  a  chain,  for 
the  land  is  full  of  bloody  crimes  and  the  city  of 
violence." 

If  we  can  remember  this  simple  rule,  it  will  do 
much  to  unravel  the  mystery  of  the  much-con- 
troverted "Do  Everything  Policy,"  namely,  that 
every  question  of  practical  philanthropy  or  reform 
has  its  temperance  aspect,  and  with  that  we  are  to 
deal. 

Miss  Willard's  conviction  of  the  essential  right  and 
justice  of  the  principle  of  woman  suffrage,  with  a 


112  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

twin  conviction  that  she  must  be  its  public  advo- 
cate, came  to  her  in  the  capital  of  the  Crusade  State 
in  1876,  while  she  was  upon  her  knees  in  prayer, 
lifting  her  heart  to  God  with  the  cry,  "What  wouldst 
Thou  have  me  to  do?"  She  felt  that  all  the  power 
of  God  would  be  at  her  disposal  in  her  advocacy  of 
the  views  she  was  constrained  to  declare,  and  at  once 
asked  permission  to  present  the  subject  at  the  pro- 
jected Centennial  temperance  meeting,  in  the  Acad- 
emy of  Music,  Philadelphia,  but  the  request  was 
declined.  Even  at  Chautauqua,  a  few  weeks  later, 
she  felt  the  conservative  influence  and  refrained  from 
speaking  out  her  deepest  thought.  This  dauntless 
pioneer  next  visited  Old  Orchard  Beach,  and  she  tells 
us  that  in  the  "fragrant  air  of  Maine's  dear  piney 
woods,  with  the  great  free  ocean's  salt  spray  to  in- 
vigorate lungs  and  soul,  I  first  avowed  the  faith 
that  was  within  me.  All  around,  my  good  friends 
looked  so  much  surprised  and  some  of  them  so 
sorry."  Miss  Willard  found  a  strong  friend  in 
Maria  Mitchell,  who  gave  her  a  "home  protection 
audience,"  at  the  Woman's  Congress.  Her  first 
avowal  of  this  theme,  dear  to  her  heart,  before  the 
National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union, 
was  made  in  the  year  1876  before  the  annual  con- 
vention, held  in  Newark,  New  Jersey.  Miss  Wil- 
lard's  own  pen  picture  is  the  best  delineation  of  that 
now  historic  scene: 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER     113 

By  this  time  my  soul  had  come  to  "woe  is  me  if  I 
declare  not  this  gospel."  Welcome  or  not,  the 
words  must  come.  In  a  great  crowded  church,  with 
smiles  on  some  faces  and  frowns  on  others,  I  came 
forward.  Our  gifted  Mary  Lathrap  had  told  a  war 
story  in  one  of  her  addresses  about  a  colored  man 
who  saw  a  boat  bearing  down  upon  the  skiff  drawn 
up  to  shore,  in  which  he  and  three  white  men  were 
concealed.  If  he  could  only  push  off  instantly  they 
would  be  saved,  but  to  show  himself  was  fatal.  But 
he  did  not  hesitate;  calling  out,  "Somebody's  got  to 
be  killed,  and  it  might  as  well  be  me,"  he  launched 
the  boat  and  fell  with  a  bullet  in  his  heart.  In  that 
difficult  hour  this  story  came  to  me,  and  as  I  told 
it  some  of  my  good  friends  wept  at  the  thought  of 
ostracism  which,  from  that  day  to  this,  has  been  its 
sequel  —  not  as  a  rule,  but  a  painful  exception. 
When  I  had  finished  the  argument,  a  lady  from  New 
York,  gray-haired  and  dignified,  who  was  presiding, 
said  to  the  audience:  "The  National  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union  is  not  responsible  for 
the  utterances  of  this  evening.  We  have  no  mind 
to  trail  our  skirts  in  the  mire  of  politics."  She  doubt- 
less felt  it  her  duty  to  speak,  and  I  had  no  thought 
of  blame,  only  regret.  As  we  left  the  church,  one 
of  our  chief  women  said:  "You  might  have  been  a 
leader  in  our  national  councils,  but  you  have  deliber- 
ately chosen  to  be  only  a  scout." 

Miss  Willard  had  no  way  of  knowing,  unless  by 
divine  intuition,  that  this  prophecy  was  false;  yet 
a  scout  she  dared  and  chose  to  become.  Three  years 
later,  at  the  very  Convention  which  elected  her  its 


114  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

president,  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  declared  for  the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  woman, 
and  during  the  years  which  have  followed  it  is  uni- 
versally acknowledged  to  have  accomplished  more 
in  molding  the  public  opinion  of  the  home  and  the 
church  in  favor  of  this  reform  than  has  any  other 
one  agency. 

Concerning  the  prohibition  policy  Miss  Willard 
thus  sets  forth  the  position  of  the  white-ribbon 
organization : 

PROHIBITION 

We  base  our  plea  for  prohibition  on  the  principle 
set  forth  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  country  in 
what  have  become  "household  words"  among  our 
temperance  women: 

"No  legislature  can  bargain  away  the  public 
health  or  the  public  morals;  the  people  themselves 
cannot  do  it,  much  less  their  servants.  Govern- 
ment is  organized  with  a  view  to  their  preservation, 
and  cannot  divest  itself  of  the  power  to  provide 
for  them." 

We  had  in  the  United  States  last  year  more  than 
ten  thousand  murders  and  more  than  six  thousand 
suicides,  or  an  average  of  thirty  murders  a  day,  be- 
sides twelve  monthly  lynchings.  Since  1867  these 
terrible  'takings  off'  have  multiplied  in  proportion 
to  the  population  at  the  rate  of  three  to  one.  The 
papers  that  I  read,  not  only  from  the  metropolis 
itself,  but  from  Maine  to  California,  would  seem 
to  indicate  that  murders  are  the  staple  product. 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND   LEADER     115 

We  have  the  testimony  of  Judge  Noah  Davis,  of 
New  York  City,  twenty  years  on  the  bench,  that 
ninety  per  cent  of  the  crime  is  due  to  strong  drink. 

Any  reasoning  man  who  can  put  these  facts 
together  and  then  vote  for  license  has  the  mind 
of  a  man  without  conscience,  or  without  adequate 
knowledge,  or  with  a  serious  twist  in  brain  or  con- 
science —  at  least  this  is  my  humble  opinion.  The 
fact  is,  "My  people  perish  for  lack  of  knowledge." 
There  is  not  a  good  man  between  the  oceans  who 
would  not  vote  against  throwing  around  the  saloon 
the  guarantees  and  safeguards  of  the  municipality 
if  he  had  studied  the  question  with  an  honest  desire 
to  know  whether  it  is  better  to  be  linked  with  the 
traffic,  by  accepting  the  bonus  that  it  gives  in  order 
to  have  the  law  on  its  side,  or  squarely  to  vote 
against  it,  thus  removing  one's  self  from  any  conniv- 
ance with  the  abomination,  and  then  to  try  to 
carry  out  the  intention  of  that  vote  so  far  as  possible. 
That  which  the  people  have  legalized  they  can  ren- 
der illegal,  and  it  is  their  solemn  duty  before  God 
and  humanity  to  render  the  liquor  traffic  illegal. 
I  believe,  with  all  my  heart,  that  the  men  who  vote 
to  give  it  a  legal  status  will  meet  their  record  farther 
on  to  their  unspeakable  regret  and  immeasurable 
remorse.  It  is  a  long  lane  that  has  no  turning. 
If  we  sow  the  wind  we  are  sure  to  reap  the  whirl- 
wind. "Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked; 
whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap." 

In  the  vocabulary  of  "practical  statesmanship" 
the  words,  "opportune"  and  "expedient"  stand  at 
the  head.  We  would  make  the  same  criticism 
upon  them  that  Abraham  Lincoln  did  concerning  a 


116  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

book  left  with  him  by  the  agent  who  demanded  a 
notice,  whereupon  the  great  man  wrote,  "For  those 
who  like  this  sort  of  book,  it  is  about  the  sort  of 
book  they  like,"  and  for  those  who  ring  the  changes 
upon  opportunism  and  expediency,  there  is  nothing 
to  be  done  except  to  let  them  ring.  But  this  is  not 
the  genius  or  the  spirit  of  the  white-ribbon  movement. 
Nothing  could  have  been  more  impolitic  than  for 
women  to  form  processions  on  the  streets  as  a 
demonstration  against  the  liquor  traffic;  nothing 
could  have  been  less  opportune  than  prayer-meetings 
in  saloons,  and  pounding  with  hatchets  the  casks 
and  barrels  of  the  dramshop,  but  these  humble  and 
unheard-of  means  were  used  by  the  heavenly  powers 
to  concentrate  the  gaze  of  the  world  upon  the  plague 
spot  of  the  republic,  and  from  these  beginnings,  which 
were  to  the  wise  foolishness  and  to  the  statesman 
an  infatuation,  has  come  a  movement  that,  if  we 
are  true  to  its  hidings  of  power,  will  be  pervasive 
before  long,  and  some  day  it  will  be  triumphant. 

Besides  being  wholly  wicked  in  principle,  any 
form  of  license  is  pitiably  inconsequent  in  policy. 
Consider  once  more  the  false  and  arrogant  claim 
of  license  with  the  misleading  prefix  "high,"  that 
latest  device  of  Satan,  who  herein  proves  his  power, 
as  many  times  before,  to  "deceive  the  very  elect." 
That  some  good  men  have  been  led  away  by  its 
lying  promises,  makes  this  unhallowed  method  of 
legislation  all  the  more  dangerous.  Fortunately 
no  temperance  expert  in  the  nation,  no  man  or 
woman  who  has  made  such  a  study  of  the  principles 
involved  as  those  do  whose  lives  are  consecrated  to 
the  greatest  of  reforms,  has  spoken  one  word  in 


THE  DEN.  REST  COTTAGE 


THE  ORGANIZER  AND  LEADER     117 

favor  of  this  worst  of  all  methods  for  handling  the 
liquor  traffic.  They  know  too  well  that  high 
license  yokes  Mammon  to  the  chariot  wheels  of 
King  Alcohol.  It  puts  a  premium  on  the  cupidity 
of  tax-pa\'ers  and  lulls  their  consciences  to  sleep 
with  its  siren  song,  "Make  the  traffic  bear  its  own 
burdens,"  until  their  dulled  perception  loses  out  of 
sight  the  fact  that  they  have  legalized  a  traffic  which 
will  render  at  once  necessary  the  expense  of  alms- 
house, hospital,  insane  asylum,  and  penitentiary,  and 
is  fed  by  the  debauchery  of  their  own  children. 

Moral  chloroform  thus  administered  in  the  form 
of  poisoned  gold,  to  a  city  or  a  commonwealth,  means 
its  certain  degradation;  the  ruin  which  is  no  less 
intellectually  than  morally  sure  to  fall  upon  a  people 
who  "call  evil  good  and  good  evil;  who  put  darkness 
for  light  and  light  for  darkness." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  "HOME  PROTECTION"   ADDRESS 

"The  whisky  power  looms  like  a  Chimborazo 
among  the  mountains  of  difficulty  over  which  our 
native  land  must  climb  to  reach  the  future  of  our 
dreams.  The  problem  of  the  rum  power's  over- 
throw may  well  engage  our  thoughts  as  women  and 
as  patriots.  To-night  I  ask  you  to  consider  it  in 
the  light  of  a  truth  which  Frederick  Douglass  has 
embodied  in  these  words;  'We  can  in  the  long 
run  trust  all  the  knowledge  in  the  community  to 
take  care  of  all  the  ignorance  of  the  community, 
and  all  of  its  virtue  to  take  care  of  all  of  its  vice.* 
The  difficulty  in  the  application  of  this  principle 
lies  in  the  fact  that  vice  is  always  in  the  active, 
virtue  often  in  the  passive.  Vice  is  aggressive.  It 
deals  swift,  sure  blows,  delights  in  keen-edged 
weapons,  and  prefers  a  hand-to-hand  conflict,  while 
virtue  instinctively  fights  its  unsavory  antagonist 
at  arm's  length;  its  great  guns  are  unwieldy  and 
slow  to  swing  into  range. 

"Vice  is  the  tiger,  with  keen  eyes,  alert  ears,  and 
cat-like  tread,  while  virtue  is  the  slow-paced,  com- 
placent, easy-going  elephant,  whose  greatest  dan- 

118 


THE  "HOME  PROTECTION"  ADDRESS     119 

ger  lies  in  its  ponderous  weight  and  conscious- 
ness of  power.  So  the  great  question  narrows  down 
to  one  of  methods.  It  is  not,  when  we  look  care- 
fully into  the  conditions  of  the  problem,  how  shall 
we  develop  more  virtue  in  the  community  to  offset 
the  tropical  growth  of  vice  by  which  we  find  our- 
selves environed,  but  rather,  how  the  tremendous 
force  we  have  may  best  be  brought  to  bear,  how  we 
may  unlimber  the  huge  cannon  now  pointing  into 
vacancy',  and  direct  their  full  charge  at  short  range 
upon  our  nimble,  wily,  vigilant  foe? 

"As  bearing  upon  a  consideration  of  that  question, 
I  lay  down  this  proposition :  All  pure  and  Christian 
sentiment  concerning  any  line  of  conduct  which 
vitally  affects  humanity  will,  sooner  or  later, 
crystallize  into  law.  But  the  keystone  of  law  can 
only  be  firm  and  secure  when  it  is  held  in  place  by 
the  arch  of  that  keystone,  which  is  public  sentiment. 

"  I  make  another  statement  not  so  often  reiterated, 
but  just  as  true,  namely:  The  more  thoroughly 
you  can  enlist  in  favor  of  your  law  the  natural  in- 
stincts of  those  who  have  the  power  to  make  that 
law,  and  to  select  the  officers  who  shall  enforce  it, 
the  more  securely  stands  the  law.  And  still  another : 
First  among  the  powerful  and  controlling  instincts 
in  our  nature  stands  that  of  self-preservation,  and 
next  after  this,  if  it  does  not  claim  superior  rank, 
comes  that  of  a  mother 's  love.     You  can  count  upon 


120  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

that  every  time;  it  is  sure  and  resistless  as  the 
tides  of  the  sea,  for  it  is  founded  in  the  changeless 
nature  given  to  her  from  God. 

"Now,  the  stronghold  of  the  rum  power  lies  in 
the  fact  that  it  has  upon  its  side  two  deeply-rooted 
appetites,  namely:  in  the  dealer,  the  appetite  for 
gain,  and  in  the  drinker,  the  appetite  for  stimulants. 
We  have  dolorously  said  in  times  gone  by  that  on  the 
human  plane  we  have  nothing  adequate  to  match 
against  this  frightful  pair.  But  let  us  think  more 
carefully  and  we  shall  find  that,  as  in  nature  God 
has  given  us  an  antidote  to  every  poison,  and  in 
grace  a  compensation  for  every  loss,  so  in  human 
society  He  has  prepared  against  alcohol,  that  worst 
foe  of  the  social  state,  an  enemy  under  whose  weap- 
ons it  is  to  bite  the  dust. 

"Think  of  it!  There  is  a  class  in  every  one  of  our 
communities  —  in  many  of  them  far  the  most  num- 
erous class  —  which  (I  speak  not  vauntingly;  I  but 
name  it  as  a  fact)  has  not  in  all  the  centuries  of 
wine,  beer,  and  brandy  drinking  developed,  as  a 
class,  an  appetite  for  alcohol,  but  whose  instincts, 
on  the  contrary,  set  so  strongly  against  intoxicants 
that  if  the  liquor  traflfic  were  dependent  on  their 
patronage  alone,  it  would  collapse  this  night  as  if  all 
the  nitro-glycerine  of  Hell  Gate  reef  had  exploded 
under  it. 

"There  is  a  class  whose  instinct  of  self-preserva- 


THE  "HOME  PROTECTION"  ADDRESS    121 

tion  must  forever  be  opposed  to  a  stimulant  which 
nerves  with  dangerous  strength  arms  already  so 
much  stronger  than  their  own,  and  so  maddens  the 
brain  God  meant  to  guide  those  arms,  that  they 
strike  down  the  wives  men  love,  and  the  little 
children  for  whom,  when  sober,  they  would  die. 
The  wife,  largely  dependent  for  the  support  of  her- 
self and  little  ones  upon  the  brain  which  strong 
drink  paralyzes,  the  arm  it  masters,  and  the  skill  it 
renders  futile,  will,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  prove 
herself  unfriendly  to  the  actual  or  potential  source 
of  so  much  misery.  But  besides  this  primal  in- 
stinct of  self-preservation,  we  have  in  the  same  class 
of  which  I  speak,  another  far  more  high  and  sacred 
—  I  mean  the  instinct  of  a  mother's  love,  a  wife's 
devotion,  a  sister's  faithfulness,  a  daughter's  loyal- 
ty. And  now  I  ask  you  to  consider  earnestly  the 
fact  that  none  of  these  blessed  rays  of  light  and 
power  from  woman's  heart  are  as  yet  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  rum  shop  at  the  focus  of  power.  They 
are,  I  know,  the  sweet  and  pleasant  sunshine  of  our 
homes;  they  are  the  beams  which  light  the  larger 
home  of  social  life  and  send  their  gentle  radiance  out 
even  into  the  great  and  busy  world. 

"But  I  know,  and  as  the  knowledge  has  grown 
clearer,  my  heart  has  thrilled  with  gratitude  and 
hope  too  deep  for  words,  that  in  a  republic  all  these 
now  divergent  beams  of  light  can,  through  that  magic 


12£  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

lens,  that  powerful  sun-glass  which  we  name  the 
ballot,  be  made  to  converge  upon  the  rum  shop  in  a 
blaze  of  light  that  shall  reveal  its  full  abominations, 
and  a  white  flame  of  heat  which,  like  a  pitiless  moxa, 
shall  burn  this  cancerous  excrescence  from  Amer- 
ica's fair  form.  Yes,  for  there  is  nothing  in  the 
universe  so  sure,  so  strong,  as  love;  and  love  shall 
do  all  this  —  the  love  of  maid  for  sweetheart,  wife 
for  husband,  of  a  sister  for  her  brother,  of  a  mother 
for  her  son.  And  I  call  upon  you  who  are  here  to- 
day, good  men  and  brave  —  you  who  have  welcomed 
us  to  other  fields  in  the  great  fight  of  the  angel 
against  the  dragon  in  society  —  I  call  upon  you  thus 
to  match  force  with  force,  to  set  over  against  the 
liquor-dealer's  avarice  our  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion; and  to  match  the  drinker's  love  of  liquor  with 
our  love  of  him!  When  you  can  center  all  this 
power  in  that  small  bit  of  paper  which  falls 

*As  snowflakes  fall  upon  the  sod; 
But  executes  a  freeman's  will,  as  lightnings  do  the  will  of  God, 

the  rum  power  will  be  as  much  doomed  as  was  the 
slave  power  when  you  gave  the  ballot  to  the  slaves. 
"In  our  argument  it  has  been  claimed  that  by  the 
changeless  instincts  of  her  nature  and  through  the 
most  sacred  relationships  of  which  that  nature  has 
been  rendered  capable,  God  has  indicated  woman, 
who  is  the  born  conservator  of  home,  to  be  the 
Nemesis  of  home 's  arch  enemy.  King  Alcohol.     And, 


THE  "HOME  PROTECTION"  ADDRESS    123 

further,  that  in  a  republic,  this  power  of  hers  may 
be  most  effectively  exercised  by  giving  her  a  voice 
in  the  decision  by  which  the  rum-shop  door  shall 
be  opened  or  closed  beside  her  home. 

"This  position  is  strongly  supported  by  evidence. 
About  the  year  1850,  petitions  were  extensively 
circulated  in  Cincinnati  (later  the  fiercest  battle- 
ground of  the  Woman's  Crusade),  asking  that  the 
liquor  traffic  be  put  under  the  ban  of  law.  Bishop 
Simpson  —  one  of  the  noblest  and  most  discerning 
minds  of  his  century  —  was  deeply  interested  in 
this  movement.  It  was  decided  to  ask  for  the  names 
of  women,  as  well  as  those  of  men,  and  it  was  found 
that  the  former  signed  the  petition  more  readily 
and  in  much  larger  numbers  than  the  latter.  Anoth- 
er fact  was  ascertained  which  rebuts  the  hackneyed 
assertion  that  women  of  the  lower  class  will  not  be 
on  the  temperance  side  in  this  great  war.  For  it 
was  found  —  as  might,  indeed,  have  been  most 
reasonably  predicted  —  that  the  ignorant,  the  poor 
(many  of  them  wives,  mothers,  and  daughters  of 
intemperate  men),  were  among  the  most  eager  to 
sign  the  petition. 

"Many  a  hand  was  taken  from  the  washtub  to 
hold  the  pencil  and  affix  the  signature  of  women  of 
this  class,  and  many  another,  which  could  only  make 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  did  that  with  tears  and  a 
hearty  'God  bless  you.'     'That  was  a  wonderful 


124  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

lesson  to  me,'  said  the  good  Bishop,  and  he  has  al- 
ways believed  since  then  that  God  will  give  our 
enemy  into  our  hands  by  giving  to  us  an  ally  still 
more  powerful  —  woman  with  the  ballot  against 
rum  shops  in  our  land.  It  has  been  said  so  often 
that  the  very  frequency  of  reiteration  has  in  some 
minds  induced  belief,  that  women  of  the  better  class 
will  never  consent  to  declare  themselves  at  the  polls. 
But  tens  of  thousands  from  the  most  tenderly 
sheltered  homes  have  gone  day  after  day  to  the 
saloons,  and  have  spent  hour  after  hour  upon  their 
sanded  floors,  and  in  their  reeking  air  —  places  in 
which  not  the  worst  politician  would  dare  to  locate 
the  ballot  box  of  freemen,  though  they  but  stay  a 
moment  at  the  window,  slip  in  their  votes,  and  go 
their  way. 

"Nothing  worse  can  ever  happen  to  women  at  the 
polls  than  has  been  endured  by  the  hour  on  the  part 
of  conservative  women  of  the  churches  in  this  land, 
as  they,  in  scores  of  towns,  have  pleaded  with  rough, 
half-drunken  men  to  vote  the  temperance  tickets 
they  have  handed  them,  and  which,  with  vastly 
more  of  propriety  and  fitness,  they  might  have 
dropped  into  the  box  themselves.  They  could  have 
done  this  in  a  moment,  and  returned  to  their  homes, 
instead  of  spending  the  whole  day  in  the  often  futile 
endeavor  to  beg  from  men  like  these  the  votes  which 
should  preserve  their  homes  from  the  whisky  ser- 


THE  "HOME  PROTECTION"  ADDRESS    125 

pent's  breath  for  one  uncertain  year.  I  spent  last 
May  in  Ohio,  traveUng  constantly,  and  seeking  on 
every  side  to  learn  the  views  of  the  noble  women  of 
the  Crusade.  They  put  their  opinions  in  words 
like  these:  'We  believe  that  as  God  led  us  into 
this  work  by  way  of  the  saloons,  He  will  lead  us  out 
by  way  of  the  ballot.  We  have  never  prayed  more 
earnestly  over  the  one  than  we  shall  over  the  other. 
One  was  the  Wilderness,  the  other  is  the  Promised 
Land.' 

"A  Presbyterian  lady,  rigidly  conservative,  said: 
*For  my  part,  I  never  wanted  to  vote  until  our 
gentlemen  passed  a  prohibition  ordinance  so  as  to 
get  us  to  stop  visiting  saloons,  and  a  month  later  re- 
pealed it  and  chose  a  saloon-keeper  for  mayor.' 

"Said  a  grand-daughter  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  a 
woman  with  no  toleration  toward  the  suffrage  move- 
ment, a  woman  crowned  with  the  glory  of  gray  hairs, 
a  central  figure  in  her  native  town  —  and  as  she 
spoke  the  courage  and  faith  of  the  Puritans  thrilled 
her  voice:  'If,  with  the  ballot  in  our  hands,  we 
can,  as  I  firmly  believe,  put  down  this  awful  traflBc, 
I  am  ready  to  lead  the  women  of  my  town  to  the 
polls,  as  I  have  often  led  them  to  the  rum  shops.' 

"We  must  not  forget  that  for  every  woman  who 
joins  the  Temperance  Unions  that  have  sprung  up 
all  through  the  world,  there  are  at  least  a  score  who 
sympathize,  but  do  not  join.     Home  influence  and 


126  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

cares  prevent  them,  ignorance  of  our  aims  and 
methods,  lack  of  consecration  to  Christian  work  — 
a  thousand  reasons,  suflficient  in  their  estimation, 
though  not  in  ours,  hold  them  away  from  us.  And 
yet  they  have  this  Temperance  cause  warmly  at 
heart;  the  logic  of  events  has  shown  them  that  there 
is  but  one  side  on  which  a  woman  may  safely  stand 
in  this  great  battle,  and  on  that  side  they  would 
indubitably  range  themselves  in  the  quick,  decisive 
battle  of  election  day,  nor  would  they  give  their 
voice  a  second  time  in  favor  of  the  man  who  had  once 
betrayed  his  pledge  to  enforce  the  most  stringent 
law  for  the  protection  of  their  homes.  There  are 
many  noble  women,  too,  who,  though  they  do  not 
think  as  do  the  Temperance  Unions  about  the  deep 
things  of  religion,  and  are  not  as  yet  decided  in  their 
total  abstinence  sentiments,  nor  ready  for  the  blessed 
work  of  prayer,  are  nevertheless  decided  in  their 
views  of  woman  suffrage,  and  ready  to  vote  a  tem- 
perance ticket  side  by  side  with  us.  And  there  are 
the  drunkard's  wife  and  daughters,  who  from  very 
shame  will  not  come  with  us,  or  who  dare  not,  yet 
who  could  freely  vote  with  us  upon  this  question; 
for  the  folded  ballot  tells  no  tales. 

"Among  other  cumulative  proofs  in  this  argu- 
ment from  experience,  let  us  consider,  briefly,  the 
attitude  of  the  Catholic  Church  toward  the  tem- 
perance reform.     It  is  friendly,  at  least.     Father 


THE  "HOME  PROTECTION"  ADDRESS    127 

Mathew's  spirit  lives  to-day  in  many  a  faithful 
parish  priest.  In  our  processions  on  the  Centennial 
Fourth  of  July,  the  banners  of  Catholic  Total 
Abstinence  Societies  were  often  the  only  reminders 
that  the  republic  has  any  temperance  people  within 
its  borders,  as  they  were  the  only  offset  to  brewers' 
wagons  and  distillers '  casks ;  while  among  the  monu- 
ments of  our  cause,  by  which  this  memorable  year 
is  signalized,  their  fountain  in  Fairmount  Park  — 
standing  in  the  midst  of  eighty  drinking  places 
licensed  by  our  Government  —  is  chief.  Catholic 
women  would  vote  with  Protestant  women  upon 
this  issue  for  the  protection  of  their  homes 

"Again,  among  the  thousands  of  churches  of 
America,  with  their  millions  of  members,  two-thirds 
are  women.  Thus,  only  one-third  of  this  trust- 
worthy and  thoughtful  class  has  any  voice  in  the 
laws  by  which,  between  the  church  and  the  public 
school,  the  rum  shop  nestles  in  this  Christian  land. 
Surely  all  this  must  change  before  the  government 
shall  be  upon  His  shoulders  'who  shall  one  day 
reign  King  of  nations  as  He  now  reigns  King  of 
saints.' 

"Furthermore,  nine-tenths  of  the  teachers  in  this 
land  are  women,  whose  thoughtful  judgment,  ex- 
pressed with  the  authority  of  which  I  speak,  would 
greatly  help  forward  the  victory  of  our  cause.  And 
finally,  by  those  who  fear  the  effect  of  the  foreign 


128  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

element  in  our  country,  let  it  be  remembered  that 
we  have  six  native  women  for  every  one  who  is 
foreign  born,  for  it  is  men  who  emigrate  in  largest 
numbers  to  our  shores. 

"When  all  these  facts  (and  many  more  that  might 
be  added)  are  marshaled  into  line,  how  illogical  it 
seems  for  good  men  to  harangue  us  as  they  do  about 
our  'duty  to  educate  public  sentiment  to  the  level 
of  better  law,'  and  to  exhort  true-hearted  American 
mothers  to  'train  their  sons  to  vote  aright.'  As 
said  Mrs.  Governor  Wallace,  of  Indiana  —  until 
the  Crusade  an  opponent  of  the  franchise  —  *  What 
a  bitter  sarcasm  you  utter,  gentlemen,  to  us  who 
have  the  public  sentiment  of  which  you  speak,  all 
burning  in  our  hearts,  and  yet  are  not  permitted  to 
turn  it  to  account.' 

"Let  us,  then,  each  one  of  us,  offer  our  earnest 
prayer  to  God,  and  speak  our  honest  word  to  man 
in  favor  of  this  added  weapon  in  woman's  hands, 
remembering  that  every  petition  in  the  ear  of  God, 
and  every  utterance  in  the  ears  of  men,  swells  the 
dimensions  of  that  resistless  tide  of  influence  which 
shall  yet  float  within  our  reach  all  that  we  ask  or 
need.  Good  and  true  women  who  have  crusaded 
in  rum  shops,  I  urge  that  you  begin  crusading  in 
halls  of  legislation,  in  primary  meetings,  and  in  the 
ofllces  of  excise  commissioners.  Roll  in  your  peti- 
tions,   burnish    your    arguments,    multiply    your 


THE  "HOME  PROTECTION"  ADDRESS    129 

prayers.  Go  to  the  voters  in  your  town  —  procure 
the  official  Hst  and  see  them  one  by  one  —  and  get 
them  pledged  to  a  local  ordinance  requiring  the 
votes  of  men  and  women  before  a  license  can  be 
issued  to  open  rum-shop  doors  beside  your  homes; 
go  to  the  legislature  with  the  same;  remember  this 
may  be  just  as  really  Christian  work  as  praying  in 
saloons  was  in  those  other  glorious  days.  Let  us 
not  limit  God,  whose  modes  of  operation  are  so 
infinitely  varied  in  nature  and  in  grace.  I  believe 
in  the  correlation  of  spiritual  forces,  and  that  the 
heat  which  melted  hearts  to  tenderness  in  the 
Crusade  is  soon  to  be  the  light  which  shall  reveal 
our  opportunity  and  duty  as  the  Republic's 
daughters. 

"Longer  ago  than  I  shall  tell,  my  father  returned 
one  night  to  the  far-off  Wisconsin  home  where  I  was 
reared;  sitting  by  my  mother's  chair,  with  a  child's 
attentive  ear,  I  listened  to  their  words.  He  told 
us  of  the  news  that  day  had  brought  about  Neal 
Dow  and  the  great  fight  for  prohibition  down  in 
Maine,  and  then  he  said:  'I  wonder  if  poor,  rum- 
cursed  Wisconsin  will  ever  get  a  law  like  that.'*' 
And  mother  rocked  awhile  in  silence  in  the  dear  old 
chair  I  love,  and  then  she  gently  said:  'Yes, 
Josiah;  there'll  be  such  a  law  all  over  the  land  some 
day,  when  women  vote.' 

"My  father  had  never  heard  her  say  so  much 


130  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

before.  He  was  a  great  conservative;  so  he  looked 
tremendously  astonished,  and  replied  in  his  keen, 
sarcastic  voice:  'And  pray  how  will  you  arrange 
it  so  that  women  shall  vote?'  Mother's  chair 
went  to  and  fro  a  little  faster  for  a  minute,  and 
then,  looking  not  into  his  face,  but  into  the  flicker- 
ing flames  of  the  grate,  she  slowly  answered :  '  Well, 
I  say  to  you,  as  the  apostle  Paul  said  to  his  jailer, 
'You  have  put  us  into  prison,  we  being  Romans, 
and  you  must  come  and  take  us  out.' 

"That  was  a  seed-thought  in  a  girl's  brain  and 
heart.  Years  passed  on,  in  which  nothing  more 
was  said  upon  this  dangerous  theme.  My  brother 
grew  to  manhood,  and  soon  after  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  old  he  went  with  his  father  to  vote.  Stand- 
ing by  the  window,  a  girl  of  sixteen  years,  a  girl  of 
simple,  homely  fancies,  not  at  all  strong-minded, 
and  altogether  ignorant  of  the  world,  I  looked  out 
as  they  drove  away,  my  father  and  my  brother, 
and  as  I  looked  I  felt  a  strange  ache  in  my  heart, 
and  tears  sprang  to  my  eyes.  Turning  to  my  sister 
Mary,  who  stood  beside  me,  I  saw  that  the  dear 
little  innocent  seemed  wonderfully  sober,  too.  I 
said:  'Don't  you  wish  we  could  go  with  them 
when  we  are  old  enough?  Don't  we  love  our 
country  just  as  well  as  they  do?'  And  her  \i^\e, 
frightened  voice  piped  out:  'Yes,  of  course  we 
ought.     Don't  I  know  that?  But  you  mustn't  tell 


THE  "HOME  PROTECTION"  ADDRESS     131 

a  soul  —  not  mother,  even;  we  should  be  called 
strong-minded.' 

"In  all  the  years  since  then  I  have  kept  these 
things,  and  many  others  like  them,  and  pondered 
them  in  my  heart;  but  two  years  of  struggle  in  this 
temperance  reform  have  shown  me  my  duty,  as 
they  have  ten  thousand  other  women,  so  clearly 
and  so  impressively,  that  I  long  ago  passed  the 
Rubicon  of  silence,  and  am  ready  for  any  battle 
that  shall  be  involved  in  this  honest  declaration  of 
the  faith  that  is  within  me.  '  Fight  behind  masked 
batteries  a  little  longer,'  whisper  good  friends  and 
true.  So  I  have  been  fighting  hitherto;  but  it  is  a 
style  of  warfare  altogether  foreign  to  my  tempera- 
ment and  mode  of  life.  Reared  on  the  prairies, 
I  seemed  predetermined  to  join  the  cavalry  forces 
in  this  great  spiritual  war,  and  I  must  tilt  a  free 
lance  henceforth  on  the  splendid  battlefield  of  this 
reform;  where  the  earth  shall  soon  be  shaken  by  the 
onset  of  contending  hosts;  where  legions  of  valiant 
soldiers  are  deploying;  where  to  the  grand  encounter 
marches  to-day  a  great  army,  gentle  of  mien  and 
mild  of  utterance,  but  with  hearts  for  any  fate; 
where  there  are  trumpets  and  bugles  calling  strong 
souls  onward  to  a  victory  that  heaven  might  envy, 

and 

'  Where,  behind  the  dim  Unknown, 

Standeth  God  within  the  shadow, 
Keeping  watch  above  His  own.' 


132  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

"I  thought  that  women  ought  to  have  the  ballot 
as  I  paid  the  hard-earned  taxes  upon  my  mother's 
cottage  home  —  but  I  never  said  as  much  —  some- 
how the  motive  did  not  command  my  heart.  For 
my  own  sake,  I  had  not  courage,  but  I  have  for  thy 
sake,  dear  native  land,  for  thy  necessity  is  as  much 
greater  than  mine  as  thy  transcendent  hope  is  greater 
than  the  personal  interest  of  thy  humble  child. 
For  love  of  you,  heart-broken  wives,  whose  tremulous 
lips  have  blessed  me;  for  love  of  you,  sweet  moth- 
ers, who,  in  the  cradle's  shadow,  kneel  this  night 
beside  your  infant  sons;  and  you,  sorrowful  little 
children,  who  listen  at  this  hour,  with  faces  strange- 
ly old,  for  him  whose  footsteps  frighten  you, — for 
love  of  you  have  I  thus  spoken. 

"Ah,  it  is  women  who  have  given  the  costliest 
hostages  to  fortune.  Out  into  the  battle  of  life 
they  have  sent  their  best  beloved,  with  fearful  odds 
against  them,  with  snares  that  men  have  legalized 
and  set  for  them  on  every  hand.  Beyond  the  arms 
that  held  them  long,  their  boys  have  gone  forever. 
Oh!  by  the  danger  they  have  dared;  by  the  hours 
of  patient  watching  over  beds  where  helpless  children 
lay;  by  the  incense  of  ten  thousand  prayers  wafted 
from  their  gentle  lips  to  heaven,  I  charge  you  give 
them  power  to  protect,  along  life's  treacherous 
highway,  those  whom  they  have  so  loved.  Let  it 
no  longer  be  that  they  must  sit  back  among  the 


THE  "HOME  PROTECTION"  ADDRESS     133 

shadows,  hopelessly  mourning  over  their  strong 
staff  broken,  and  their  beautiful  rod;  but  when  the 
sons  they  love  shall  go  forth  to  life's  battle,  still 
let  their  mothers  walk  beside  them,  sweet  and 
serious,  and  clad  in  the  garments  of  power." 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  DEFENDER  OF  HER  FAITH 

The  same  calm  and,  to  a  superficial  observer, 

reckless  disregard  of  consequences,   marked  Miss 

Willard's  policy  in  the  later  struggle  for  affiliation 

with  that  political  party  which,  in  her  judgment, 

alone  breathed  the  spirit  of  the  Crusade.     When 

convinced  by  the  resistless  logic  of  events,  and  the 

equally    resistless    logic    of   her    own    mind,    that 

woman's  ballot  could  be  an  effective  agency  for  the 

preservation  of  the  home  only  as  a  proper  channel 

should  be  supplied  through  which  it  might  express 

itself,  she  at  once  set  out  to  find  that  channel. 

When  she  believed  she  had  found  it,  she  did  not 

hesitate  to  throw  the  whole  weight  of  her  influence 

in  favor  of  that  party  which  seemed  to  her  the  best 

embodiment  of  home  protection.     It  was  not  an 

easy  thing  to  do.     Party  feeling  ran  far  higher  in 

those  years  than,  please  God,  it  is  likely  to  do  again. 

It  took  courage  to  go  against  those  with  whom  for 

years  she  had  been  in  perfect  accord,  courage  to  be 

branded  as  a  fanatic  and  an  iconoclast;    but  just 

that  splendid  courage  was  hers,  and  having  once  set 

her  hand  to  the  plow,  there  was  for  her  no  looking 

back. 

134 


THE  DEFENDER  OF  HER  FAITH      135 

Her  first  utterance  in  favor  of  party  prohibition 
was  made  at  the  Boston  Convention  in  1880;  her 
last  at  Buffalo,  when,  the  report  of  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions  having  been  presented  during  her 
absence  from  the  hall,  she  arose  in  the  great  public 
meeting  at  night  and,  in  her  quaintly  humorous 
way,  announced  that  it  had  been  "moved,  seconded, 
and  unanimously  carried  in  her  own  mind"  that  the 
differing  factions  existing  among  her  beloved 
brethren  should  once  more  come  together,  should 
insert  a  woman  suffrage  plank  in  their  platform, 
and  under  the  glorious  name  of  the  "Home  Protec- 
tion Party"  march  on  to  victory.  During  those 
intervening  years  no  faction,  no  schism,  no  ridicule, 
no  persecution,  had  turned  her  from  her  purpose. 
She  still  believed  a  party  might  and  should  exist 
which  would  embody  in  its  name,  and  in  its  platform, 
all  that  the  term  "Home  Protection"  meant  to  her 
home-loving  heart!      Having  "done  all,"  she  stood. 

Hers  was  the  genius  which  not  only  sees  new  light 
and  invents  new  methods,  but  which  recognizes  all 
that  is  true  in  the  old  light  and  uses  old  methods  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  them  seem  perennially  new. 
This  was  especially  true  of  her  use  of  the  time- 
honored  custom  of  petitioning.  She  believed  with 
all  her  heart  in  the  petition  as  a  medium  for  the 
expression  of  opinion  and  as  a  means  for  educating 
public  sentiment,  but  she  took  the  old  form  and 


136  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

made  it  wholly  new  by  her  skillful  manipulation. 
Witness  the  famous  "Home  Protection  Petition," 
of  Illinois,  which  was  her  first  work  as  president  of 
her  adopted  State: 

THE   HOME    PROTECTION   PETITION 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
State  of  Illinois: 

Whereas,  In  these  years  of  temperance  work  the 
argument  of  defeat  in  our  contest  with  the  saloons 
has  taught  us  that  our  efforts  are  merely  palliative 
of  a  disease  in  the  body  politic,  which  can  never  be 
cured  until  law  and  moral  suasion  go  hand  in  hand 
in  our  beloved  State;  and 

Whereas,  The  instincts  of  self-protection  and  of 
apprehension  for  the  safety  of  her  children,  her 
tempted  loved  ones,  and  her  home,  render  woman 
the  natural  enemy  of  the  saloon; 

Therefore,  Your  petitioners,  men  and  women  of 
the  State  of  Illinois,  having  at  heart  the  protection 
of  our  homes  from  their  worst  enemy,  the  legalized 
traffic  in  strong  drink,  do  hereby  most  earnestly 
pray  your  honorable  body  that  by  suitable  legisla- 
tion it  may  be  provided  that  in  the  State  of  Illinois 
the  question  of  licensing  at  any  time,  in  any  locality, 
the  sale  of  any  and  all  intoxicating  drinks  shall  be 
submitted  to  and  determined  by  ballot,  in  which 
women  of  lawful  age  shall  be  privileged  to  take  part, 
in  the  same  manner  as  men,  when  voting  on  the 
question  of  license. 

To  this  petition  were  secured  in  ninety  days  two 
hundred   thousand   names.     The   State   House   in 


THE  DEFENDER  OF  HER  FAITH     137 

Springfield  was  draped  with  the  petition  pasted 
upon  white  cloth,  one  edge  of  which  was  bound  with 
red  and  the  other  with  bhie,  and  its  presentation 
was  made  a  genuine  gala-day. 

The  Memorial  presented  before  the  various 
political  conventions  in  the  year  1884  is  another 
example  of  the  skillful  use  to  which  she  could  put 
"the  right  of  a  sovereign  people  to  petition,"  while 
her  Purity  Petition,  which  served  largely  as  the  basis 
of  the  White  Cross  and  White  Shield  work  in  the 
National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union, 
has  been  presented  before  the  legislatures  of  nearly 
every  state  in  the  Union,  with  blessed  results: 

PETITION   OF  THE   WOMAN's  CHRISTIAN  TEMPERANCE 
UNION 
FOR    FURTHER   PROVISION   FOR   THE    PROTECTION 
OF   WOMEN   AND    CHILDREN 

To  the  Honorable,  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  the  State  of ; 

The  increasing  and  alarming  frequency  of  assaults 
upon  women,  the  frightful  indignities  to  which  even 
little  girls  are  subject,  and  the  corrupting  of  boys, 
have  become  the  shame  of  our  boasted  civilization. 

We  believe  that  the  statutes  of do  not  meet 

the  demands  of  that  newly  awakened  public  senti- 
ment which  requires  better  legal  protection  for 
womanhood  and  childhood; 

Therefore,  we,  the  undersigned  citizens  of  , 

County  of  ,  and  State  of  ,  pray  you  to 


138  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

enact  further  provision  for  the  protection  of  women 
and  children.  And  we  call  attention  to  the  disgrace- 
ful fact  that  protection  of  the  person  is  not  placed 
by  our  laws  upon  so  high  a  plane  as  protection  of  the 
purse. 

As  a  presiding  officer  Miss  Willard  was  without 
a  peer.  It  was  an  education  in  itself  to  see  her  mar- 
shal the  hosts  at  one  of  the  great  conventions  of  the 
National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union. 
However  skeptical  a  visitor  might  be  of  "women's 
meetings" —  however  prejudiced  against  this  partic- 
ular woman  as  the  embodiment  of  "white-ribbon 
fanaticism" —  he  was  not  proof  against  the  magic 
spell  of  the  gavel  in  her  firm  little  hand  and  the 
inspiration  of  her  exquisite  face.  How  much  he 
might  have  gone  "to  scoff,"  he  remained  —  if  not 
"to  pray,"  to  marvel  at  the  power  of  the  woman 
whom  he  had  seen  before  him  perhaps  for  days.  Her 
graceful  tact,  her  quickness  of  repartee,  her  won- 
drous grace  and  graciousness,  her  felicity  of  word 
and  phrase,  her  comprehensive  mind,  and  her  all- 
embracing  heart,  were  never  more  clearly  seen  than 
in  one  of  those  home-gatherings  of  the  white-ribbon 
clans.  She  was  not  an  uncrowned  but  a  crowned 
queen  in  those  days,  and  her  loyal,  devoted  subjects 
delighted  to  bow  to  her  mandate  and  to  do  her  glad 
homage.  For  nineteen  years  "her  banner  over  us 
was  love";  love  like  the  mighty  waves  of  the  ocean 


THE  DEFENDER  OF  HER  FAITH     139 

from  her  heart  to  ours  —  an  answering  love,  the 
chorus  of  many  waters  —  from  our  hearts  to  hers. 
The  best  definition  of  the  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  and  its  multiplied  activities 
must  be  given  by  our  leader  herself,  and  we  quote 
from  one  of  her  matchless  annual  addresses  before 
the  National  Convention: 

IMore  than  any  other  society  ever  formed,  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  is  the  expo- 
nent of  what  is  best  in  this  latter-day  civilization. 
Its  scope  is  the  broadest,  its  aims  are  the  kinder, 
its  history  is  the  most  heroic.  I  yield  to  none  in 
admiration  of  woman's  splendid  achievements  in 
church  work  and  in  the  Foreign  Missionary  Societies, 
which  became  my  first  love  as  a  philanthropist,  but 
in  both  instances  the  denominational  character  of 
that  work  interferes  with  its  unity  and  brea<|th. 
The  same  is  true  of  woman's  educational  under- 
takings, glorious  as  they  are.  Her  many-sided 
charities,  in  homes  for  the  orphaned  and  the  indigent, 
hospitals  for  the  sick  and  asylums  for  the  old,  are 
the  admiration  of  all  generous  hearts,  but  these  are 
local  in  their  interest,  and  they  result  from  the  loving 
labors  of  isolated  groups.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
women's  prisons  and  industrial  schools,  which  are 
now  multiplying  with  such  beneficent  rapidity. 
Nor  do  I  forget  the  sanitary  work  of  women,  which 
gleamed  like  a  heavenly  rainbow  on  the  horrid 
front  of  war;  but  noble  men  shared  the  labor  aS  they 
did  the  honor  on  that  memorable  field.  Neither  am 
I  unmindful  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Association, 


140  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

strongly  intrenched  in  most  of  our  great  cities,  and 
doing  valiant  battle  for  the  Prince  of  Peace;  but  it 
admits  to  its  sacramental  host  only  members  of  the 
churches  known  as  evangelical.  Far  be  it  from  me 
to  seem  indifferent  to  that  electric  intellectual 
movement  from  which  have  resulted  the  societies, 
literary  and  aesthetic,  in  which  women  have  com- 
bined to  study  classic  history,  philosophy,  and  art, 
but  these  have  no  national  unity;  or  to  forget  the 
Woman's  Congress,  with  its  annual  meeting  and 
wide  outlook,  but  lack  of  local  auxiliaries;  or  the 
Exchanges,  where  women,  too  poor  or  too  proud  to 
bring  their  wares  before  the  public,  are  helped  to  put 
money  in  their  purse,  but  which  lack  cohesion;  or 
the  state  and  associated  charities,  where  women  do 
much  of  the  work  and  men  most  of  the  superin- 
tendence. But  when  all  is  said,  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  local,  state,  and 
national,  in  the  order  of  its  growth,  with  its  unique 
and  heavenly  origin,  its  steady  march,  its  multiplied 
auxiliaries,  its  blessed  out-reaching  to  the  generous 
South  and  the  far  frontier,  its  broad  sympathies 
and  its  "abundant  entrance"  ministered  to  all  good 
and  true  women  who  are  willing  to  clasp  hands  in 
one  common  effort  to  protect  their  homes  and  loved 
ones  from  the  ravages  of  drink,  is  an  organization 
without  a  pattern  save  that  seen  in  heavenly  vision 
upon  the  mount  of  faith,  and  without  a  peer  among 
the  sisterhoods  that  have  grouped  themselves 
around  the  cross  of  Christ. 

In  the  fulness  of  time  this  mighty  work  has  been 
given  us.  Preceding  ages  would  not  have  understood 
the  end  in  view  and  would  have  spurned  the  means. 


THE  DEFENDER  OF  HER  FAITH      141 

but  the  nineteenth  century,  standing  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  its  predecessors,  has  a  wider  outlook  and  a 
keener  vision.  It  has  studied  science  and  dis- 
covered that  the  tumult  of  the  whirlwind  is  less 
powerful  than  the  silence  of  the  dew.  It  has  ran- 
sacked history  and  learned  that  the  banner  and  the 
sword  were  never  yet  the  symbols  of  man's  grandest 
victories,  and  it  begins  at  last  to  listen  to  the  voice 
of  that  inspired  philosophy  which  through  all  ages 
has  been  gently  saying:  "The  race  is  not  always  to 
the  swift,  neither  the  battle  to  the  strong." 

The  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union 
stands  as  the  exponent,  not  alone  of  that  return  to 
physical  sanity  which  will  follow  the  downfall  of 
the  drink  habit,  but  of  the  reign  of  a  religion  of  the 
body  which  for  the  first  time  in  history  shall  correlate 
with  Christ's  wholesome,  practical,  yet  blessedly 
si)iritual  religion  of  the  soul.  "The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  within  you"  shall  have  a  new  meaning  to 
the  clear-eyed,  steady-limbed  Christians  of  the 
future,  from  whose  brain  and  blood  the  taint  of 
alcohol  and  nicotine  has  been  eliminated  by  ages 
of  pure  habits  and  noble  heredity.  "The  body  is 
the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  will  not  then  seem  so 
mystical  a  statement,  nor  one  indicative  of  a  temple 
so  insalubrious  as  now.  "He  that  destroyeth  this 
temple,  him  shall  God  destroy,"  will  be  seen  to 
involve  no  element  of  vengeance,  but  instead  to  be 
the  declaration  of  such  boundless  love  and  pity  for 
our  race  as  would  not  suffer  its  deterioration  to  reach 
the  point  of  absolute  failure  and  irremediable  loss. 

The  women  of  this  land  have  never  had  before 


142  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

such  training  as  is  furnished  by  the  topical  studies 
of  our  society,  in  the  laws  by  which  childhood  shall 
set  out  upon  its  endless  journey  with  a  priceless 
heritage  of  powers  laid  up  in  store  by  the  tender, 
sacred  foresight  of  those  by  whom  the  young  im- 
mortal's being  was  invoked.  The  laws  of  health 
were  never  studied  by  so  many  mothers,  or  with  such 
immediate  results  for  good  on  their  own  lives  and 
those  of  their  children.  The  deformed  waist  and 
foot  of  the  average  fashionable  American  never 
seemed  so  hideous  and  wicked,  nor  the  cumbrous 
dress  of  the  period  so  unendurable  as  now,  when, 
from  studying  one  "poison  habit,"  our  minds  by 
the  inevitable  laws  of  thought  reach  out  to  wider 
researches  and  more  varied  deductions  than  we  had 
dreamed  at  first.  The  economies  of  co-operative 
housekeeping  never  looked  so  attractive  or  so 
feasible  as  since  the  homemakers  have  learned 
something  about  the  priceless  worth  of  time  and 
money  for  the  purposes  of  a  Christ-like  benevolence. 
The  value  of  a  trained  intellect  never  had  such 
significance  as  since  we  have  learned  what  an 
incalculable  saving  of  words  there  is  in  a  direct 
style,  what  value  in  the  power  of  classification  of 
fact,  what  boundless  resources  for  illustrating  and 
enforcing  truth  come  as  the  sequel  of  a  well-stored 
memory  and  a  cultivated  imagination.  The  puerility 
of  mere  talk  for  the  sake  of  talk,  the  unworthiness 
of  "idle  words,"  and  vacuous,  purposeless  gossip,  the 
waste  of  long  and  aimless  letter-writing,  never 
looked  so  egregious  as  to  the  workers  who  find  every 
day  too  short  for  the  glorious  and  gracious  deeds 
which  lie  waiting  for  them  on  every  hand. 


THE   DEFENDER  OF  HER  FAITH      143 

But  to  help  forward  the  coming  of  Christ  in 
all  departments  of  life  is,  in  its  last  analysis,  the 
purpose  and  aim  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union.  For  we  believe  this  correlation  of 
New  Testament  religion  with  philanthropy,  and  of 
the  Church  with  civilization,  is  the  perpetual  miracle 
which  furnishes  the  only  sufficient  antidote  to 
current  skepticism.  Higher  toward  the  zenith 
climbs  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  making  circle 
after  circle  of  human  endeavor  and  achievement 
warm  and  radiant  with  the  healing  of  its  beams. 
First  of  all,  in  our  gospel  temperance  work,  this 
heavenly  light  penetrated  the  gloom  of  the  individ- 
ual tempted  heart  (that  smallest  circle,  in  which  all 
others  are  involved),  illumined  its  darkness,  melted 
its  hardness,  made  it  a  sweet  and  sunny  place  —  a 
temple  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Having  thus  come  to  the  heart  of  the  drinking 
man  in  the  plenitude  of  His  redeeming  power,  Christ 
entered  the  next  wider  circle,  in  which  two  human 
hearts  unite  to  form  a  home,  and  here,  by  the 
revelation  of  her  place  in  His  kingdom.  He  lifted  to 
an  equal  level  with  her  husband  the  gentle  com- 
panion who  had  supposed  herself  happy  in  being 
the  favorite  vassal  of  her  liege  lord.  "There  is 
neither  male  nor  female  in  Christ  Jesus;"  this  was 
the  open  sesame,  a  declaration  utterly  opposed  to 
all  custom  and  tradition;  but  so  steadily  the  light 
has  shone,  and  so  kindly  has  it  made  the  heart  of 
man,  that  without  strife  of  tongues,  or  edict  of 
sovereigns,  it  is  coming  now  to  pass  that  in  propor- 
tion as  any  home  is  really  Christian,  the  husband 
and  the  wife  are  peers  in  dignity  and  power.    There 


144  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

are  no  homes  on  earth  where  woman  is  revered, 
beloved,  and  individualized  in  character  and  work 
so  thoroughly  as  in  the  fifty  thousand  in  America, 
where  "her  children  rise  up  and  call  her  blessed;  her 
husband  also,  and  he  praiseth  her,"  because  of  her 
part  in  the  work  of  our  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union. 

Beyond  this  sweet  and  sacred  circle  where  two 
hearts  grow  to  be  one,  where  the  mystery  of  birth 
and  the  hallowed  faces  of  child  and  mother  work 
their  perpetual  charm,  comes  that  outer  court  of 
home,  that  third  great  circle  which  we  call  society. 
Surely  and  steadily  the  light  of  Christ  is  coming  here, 
through  the  loving  temperance  Pentecost,  to  replace 
the  empty  phrase  of  punctilio  by  earnest  words  of 
cheer  and  inspiration;  to  banish  the  unhealthful 
tyranny  of  fashion  by  enthroning  wholesome  taste 
and  common  sense;  to  drive  out  questionable  amuse- 
ments and  introduce  innocent  and  delightful 
pastimes;  to  exorcise  the  evil  spirit  of  gossip  and 
domesticate  helpful  and  tolerant  speech;  nay,  more, 
to  banish  from  the  social  board  those  false  emblems 
of  hospitality  and  good-will  —  intoxicating  drinks. 

Sweep  a  wider  circle  still,  and  behold  in  that 
ecclesiastical  invention  called  denominationalism, 
Christ  coming  by  the  union  of  His  handmaids  in 
work  for  Him;  coming  to  put  away  the  form  out- 
ward and  visible  that  He  may  shed  abroad  the  grace 
inward  and  spiritual;  to  close  the  theological 
disquisition  of  the  learned  pundit,  and  open  the 
Bible  of  the  humble  saint;  to  draw  away  men's 
thoughts  from  theories  of  right  living,  and  center 
them  upon  right  living  itself;  to  usher  in  the  priest- 


THE  DEFENDER  OF  HER  FAITH      145 

hood  of  the  people,  by  pressing  upon  the  conscience 
of  each  beHever  the  individual  commission,  "Go, 
disciple  all  nations,"  and  emphasizing  the  individual 
promise,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway." 

But  the  modern  temperance  movement,  born  of 
Christ's  Gospel  and  cradled  at  His  altars,  is  rapidly 
filling  one  more  circle  of  influence  wide  as  the  widest 
zone  of  earthly  weal  or  woe,  and  that  is  government. 
"The  government  shall  be  upon  His  shoulder." 
"Unto  us  a  King  is  given."  "He  shall  reign  whose 
right  it  is."  "He  shall  not  fail,  nor  be  discouraged 
until  he  hath  set  judgment  in  the  earth."  "That  at 
the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  and  every 
tongue  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father. "  "  Thy  kingdom  come,  thy 
will  be  done  on  earth.'*  Christ  shall  reign  —  not 
visibly,  but  invisibly;  not  in  form,  but  in  fact;  not 
in  substance,  but  in  essence,  and  the  day  draws 
nigh !  Then  surely  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors 
as  a  drink  will  no  longer  be  protected  by  the  statute 
book,  the  lawyer's  plea,  the  affirmation  of  the 
witness,  and  the  decision  of  the  judge.  And  since  the 
government  is,  after  all,  a  circle  that  includes  all 
hearts,  all  homes,  all  churches,  all  societies,  does  it 
not  seem  as  if  intelligent  loyalty  to  Christ  the  King 
would  cause  each  heart  that  loves  Him  to  feel  in 
duty  bound  to  use  all  the  power  it  could  gather  to 
itself  in  helping  choose  the  framers  of  these  more 
righteous  laws?  But  let  it  be  remembered  that  for 
every  Christian  man  who  has  a  voice  in  making  and 
enforcing  laws  there  are  at  least  two  Christian 
women  who  have  no  voice  at  all.  Hence,  under  such 
circumstances    as    now    exist.    His    militant   army 


146  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

must  ever  be  powerless  to  win  those  legislative 
battles  which,  more  than  any  others,  affect  the 
happiness  of  aggregate  humanity.  But  the  light 
gleams  already  along  the  sunny  llilltops  of  the 
nineteenth  century  of  grace.  Upon  those  who  in 
largest  numbers  love  Him  who  has  filled  their  hearts 
with  peace  and  their  homes  with  blessing  slowly 
dawns  the  consciousness  that  they  may  — •  nay, 
better  still,  they  ought  to  —  ask  for  power  to  help 
forward  the  coming  of  their  Lord  in  government; 
to  throw  the  safeguard  of  their  prohibition  ballots 
around  those  who  have  left  the  shelter  of  their  arms 
only  to  be  entrapped  by  the  saloons  that  bad  men 
legalize  and  set  along  the  streets. 

But  some  doubted. 

This  was  in  our  earlier  National  Conventions. 
Almost  none  disputed  the  value  of  this  added  weapon 
in  woman's  hand  —  indeed,  all  deemed  it  "sure  to 
come."  It  was  only  the  old,  old  question  of  expe- 
diency; of  "frightening  away  our  sisters  among  the 
more  conservative."  But  later  on  we  asked  these 
questions:  Has  the  policy  of  silence  caused  a  great 
rallying  to  our  camp  from  the  ranks  of  the  con- 
servative? Do  you  know  an  instance  in  which  it 
has  augmented  your  working  force?  Are  not  all 
the  women  upon  whose  help  we  can  confidently 
count  favorable  to  the  "Do  Everything  Policy,"  as 
the  only  one  broad  enough  to  meet  our  hydra- 
headed  foe?  Have  not  the  men  of  the  liquor  traffic 
said  in  platform,  resolution,  and  secret  circular, 
"The  ballot  in  woman's  hand  will  be  the  death-knell 
of  our  trade?" 

And  so  to-day,  while  each  state  is  jree  to  adopt 


THE  DEFENDER  OF  HER  FAITH      147 

or  disavow  the  ballot  as  a  home  protection  weapon, 
and  although  the  white-winged  fleet  of  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union  in  a  score  of  states 
crowds  all  sail  for  constitutional  prohibition,  to  be 
followed  up  by  "Home  Protection,"  still  though  "the 
silver  sails  are  all  out  in  the  West,"  every  ship  in 
the  gleaming  line  is  all  the  same  a  Gospel  ship  — 
an  "o/rf  ship  Zion  —  Hallelujah!'* 

Miss  Willard  was  a  profound  student  of  all  great 
philanthropic  and  social  reforms  having  for  their 
aim  the  betterment  of  the  human  race.  "Each  for 
all,  that  there  may  be  no  hindmost  for  the  devil 
to  take,"  expressed  her  belief  in  the  final  triumph 
of  the  Golden  Rule  in  custom  and  in  law.  "Only 
the  Golden  Rule  of  Christ  can  bring  the  Golden 
Age  of  Man,"  another  of  her  original  epigrams,  well 
describes  what  she  was  wont  to  term  New  Testa- 
ment socialism.  The  socialism  which  stands  for 
the  gospel  of  brotherhood,  for  the  fundamental 
unity  of  humankind;  socialism  as  set  forth  by  the 
Great  Teacher  in  the  two  "new  commandments" 
—  love  to  God  and  love  to  one's  neighbor  —  Miss 
Willard  ardently  advocated.  From  her  own  high 
level  she  proclaimed  the  larger  truth,  the  broader 
meaning  of  man's  relation  to  man,  and  she  realized, 
as  do  all  consecrated  souls,  that  the  true  socialistic 
idea  must  be  written  in  the  hearts  of  men  and  women 
by  God's  own  finger  before  it  can  be  fitly  translated 
in  terms  of  social  and  legal  obligation. 


148  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

The  social  settlements,  just  blossoming  into  their 
perfectness  as  her  life  work  was  drawing  to  a  close, 
commanded  her  highest  admiration  and  good-will. 
"If  there  is  a  place  nearer  heaven  than  one  of 
these  settlements,"  she  exclaimed,  "I  have  not  yet 
found  it." 

Miss  Willard's  study  of  the  question  of  the 
relation  of  capital  to  labor  was  made  largely  in 
London  and  other  large  cities  of  England,  and  led  to 
many  ringing  utterances  on  this  vital  theme.  In 
London,  in  June,  1895,  at  the  convention  of  the 
World's  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union, 
She  referred  to  poverty  as  one  of  the  prime  causes 
of  intemperance.  This  statement  was  misquoted  in 
the  literature  of  the  Socialist  party  of  America  and 
Miss  Willard  was  widely  reported  as  saying  that 
poverty  caused  intemperance  in  the  same  degree 
that  intemperance  caused  poverty. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  at  the  convention 
of  the  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  held  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  she  thus 
restated  her  position  upon  this  mooted  question: 

"Much  criticism  has  been  expended  upon  me  for 
declaring  in  my  third  biennial  address  before  the 
World's  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  in 
June  last,  that  as  temperance  people  we  had  been 
in  error  in  not  recognizing  the  relation  of  poverty 
to  intemperance,  and  because  I  stated  that  while 


THE   DEFENDER  OF  HER  FAITH      149 

from  the  first  I  have  maintained  that  intemperance 
causes  poverty,  I  was  now  ready  not  only  to  re- 
iterate that  cardinal  doctrine,  but  to  add  that 
poverty  causes  intemperance.  By  that  declaration, 
I  am  ready  to  stand  or  fall.  It  is  an  axiom,  and  will 
be  admitted  by  every  reasonable  person.  As 
temperance  people  we  have  not  been  in  the  habit  of 
saying  it,  but  everybody  knows  that  it  is  true.  I 
did  not  say  that  poverty  causes  intemperance  in 
the  same  degree  that  intemperance  causes  poverty, 
nor  do  I  think  it  does,  but  as  we  have  not  been  wont 
to  recognize  poverty  at  all  among  the  procuring 
causes  of  intemperance,  it  seems  to  me  high  time 
that  we  did." 

A  FEW  PARAGRAPHS  FROM  THE  LONDON  ADDRESS 

No  matter  how  near  the  water  in  the  boiler 
comes  to  being  steam,  it  will  not  move  the  locomo- 
tive one  inch  until  it  is  steam :  that  elastic,  invisible, 
impenetrable,  and  irresistible  power.  Love  is  like 
that;  it  cannot  be  withstood;  its  God-like  flame  burns 
away  the  dross  of  policy  in  the  pure  white  light  of 
principle.  Nothing  less  will  ever  fuse  the  hearts  of 
men  in  those  reforms  by  which  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
becomes  regnant  in  the  world.  We  have  all  things 
but  love,  when  love  is  all  we  want.  Men  go  about 
smiling  whose  hearts  are  like  lumps  of  ice  in  their 
breasts.  If  we  had  love,  the  slums  of  London  would 
not  last  another  day.  If  we  had  love,  each  family  in 
London  and  New  York  that  has  a  margin  beyond  its 


150  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

necessities  would  agree  to  help  some  other  family; 
each  independent  person,  someone  else;  and  this 
single  determination,  quietly  made  and  practically 
illustrated  by  a  visit  to  the  baker  and  the  tailor, 
would  put  everyone  beyond  the  reach  of  want  before 
the  sun  went  down. 

Joy  is  the  outcome  of  balanced  faculties  and 
an  environment  that  presses  its  good  gifts  equally 
upon  all.  Anything  short  of  this  shows  that  sweet 
bells  are  jangled.  The  ardent,  endless  aspiration  of 
the  human  spirit  is  for  nothing  less  than  joy.  It  is 
the  chief  charm  of  intoxicating  liquors  that  they 
seem  to  bring  this  for  a  season;  and  of  impurity  that 
it  is  joy's  deadliest  counterfeit.  But  what  if  uni- 
versal man  should  find,  as  a  result  of  the  combined 
work  of  countless  light-bringers  through  the  un- 
counted ages,  that  we  can  only  "take  joy  home" 
into  a  brain  as  normal  as  that  of  the  bird  in  yonder 
tree-top  or  the  swan  upon  the  smiling  lake  below.'' 
What  if  he  should  find  that  only  by  bringing  the 
very  best  the  world  contains  to  everybody  else  can 
he  ever  really  come  to  the  very  best  himself.?  What 
if  man  should  grow  so  great  as  to  desire  the  equal 
comradeship  of  the  gentle  partner  of  his  gladness  and 
his  grief?  What  if  they  should  go  hand  in  hand 
through  all  the  fields  of  education,  art,  society, 
and  government?  What  if  there  should  be  some 
day  no  rich,  educated,  and  titled,  no  poor,  ignorant, 
and  debased? 

The  time  will  come  when  the  human  heart  will 
be  so  much  alive  that  no  one  could  sleep  in  any 
given  community  if  any  in  that  group  of  human 
beings  were  cold,  hungry,  or  miserable.     But  now 


THE  DEFENDER  OF  HER  FAITH      151 

we  not  only  carry  on  our  lives  within  actual  sight 
and  sound  of  untold  misery,  shame,  and  sin,  but  we 
are  not  sufficiently  disturbed  by  it  to  be  hindered 
in  our  pleasures  or  ambitions. 

While  we  sleep  a  thousand  hands  are  busy  for  us, 
gathering  up  materials  for  our  morning  meal,  pass- 
ing on  our  letters  by  the  swift  train,  printing  our 
mental  breakfast  on  the  broad  pages  of  the  daily 
press.  A  thousand  hands  are  moving  in  countries 
where  the  sun  shines  while  we  sleep  in  the  shadow 
of  the  darkness  here,  that  we  may  have  cloth  for  our 
next  new  suit,  rapid  transit  when  we  leave  home, 
books  to  brighten  our  minds,  music  to  mellow  our 
hearts.  The  brains  of  inventors  are  busy  with 
contrivances  that  annihilate  distance  and  literally 
kill  time;  the  minds  of  statesmen  are  planning  better 
laws;  the  minds  of  philosophers  are  searching  out 
the  reasons  of  things.  There  is  much  truth  and 
goodness  in  the  world  already,  or  these  things  could 
not  be  done;  and,  best  of  all,  the  people  are  stirring 
in  their  sleep.  Some  day  the  great  world-mind, 
tutored  and  taught,  will  lend  its  mighty  force  to  each 
child  of  humanity.  Some  time  the  great  world- 
heart  will  enfold  each  baby  that  is  born.  Some 
time  the  great  world-hand  will  open  itself,  and  every 
living  creature  shall  be  fed.  It  is  God's  miracle, 
and  it  spreads  over  the  earth  so  slowly  that  we  take 
it  as  a  matter  of  course.  It  comes  to  us  broadly  and 
brightly,  as  the  sunshine  comes,  this  dawning 
revelation,  as  a  fact  not  as  a  dream,  that  "One  is 
your  Father,  even  God,"  and  "all  ye  are  brethren." 


CHAPTER  X 

FOUNDER  OF  THE  WORLD'S  WOMAN'S  CHRISTIAN 
TEMPERANCE  UNION 

Frances  E.  Willard  was  a  patriot  of  patriots. 

Love  for  her  fatherland,  breathed  into  her  as  a  child, 
waxed  stronger  as  the  years  passed  by  until  it 
became  a  passion,  and  her  home-loving  heart  turned 
more  and  more  to  her  "ain  countrie."  But  she 
could  never  be  a  patriot  in  the  sense  in  which  love  for 
one's  own  country  excludes  love  for  all  other  coun- 
tries, and  as  her  affection  for  her  native  land  deepened 
and  broadened,  it  included  all  other  lands  until  she 
exultantly  heralded  the  coming  day  when  Humanity 
shall  recognize  its  brotherhood  not  in  word  only,  but 
in  deed;  when  "the  parliament  of. man,  the  federation 
of  the  world"  shall  be  more  than  a  poet's  dream — a 
gloriously  established  fact. 

Miss  Willard's  first  public  mention  of  her  aspira- 
tion toward  a  world-wide  organization  of  Christian 
women  was  made  in  1875,  in  Our  Union,  then  the 
official  organ  of  the  National  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union.  But  the  time  was  evidently 
not  ripe  for  such  a  movement.  Seven  years  later, 
in  1883,  Miss  Willard  wrote:  "On  an  organizing 
152 


FOINDKK  WORLD'S  WOMAN'S  CIIKISTIAN 
1  KMPKRANCI-;  IMON 


FOUNDER  OF  WORLD'S  W.  C.  T.  U.      153 

trip  to  the  Pacific  Coast  and  the  Puget  Sound  region, 
Anna  Gordon  and  I  visited  the  famous  Chinatown 
of  San  Francisco,  saw  the  opium  den  in  all  its 
loathsomeness  standing  next  door  to  the  house  of 
shame.  Reputable  Chinese  women  were  not  allowed 
to  accompany  their  husbands  to  California,  but  here 
were  Chinese  girls,  one  in  each  of  many  small  cabins 
with  sliding  doors  and  windows  on  the  street,  con- 
stituting the  most  flagrantly  flaunted  temptation. 
In  presence  of  these  two  object  lessons,  the  result  of 
Occidental  avarice  and  Oriental  degradation,  there 
came  to  me  a  distinct  illumination  resulting  in  this 
solemn  decision:  'But  for  the  intervention  of  the 
sea,  the  shores  of  China  and  the  far  East  would  be 
part  and  parcel  of  our  land.  We  are  one  world  of 
tempted  humanity.  The  mission  of  the  white- 
ribbon  women  is  to  organize  the  motherhood  of  the 
world  for  the  peace  and  purity,  the  protection  and 
exaltation  of  its  homes.  We  must  send  forth  a  clear 
call  to  our  sisters  yonder,  and  our  brothers,  too.  We 
must  be  no  longer  hedged  about  by  the  artificial 
boundaries  of  states  and  nations;  we  must  utter,  as 
women,  what  good  and  great  men  long  ago  declared 
as  their  watchword :  '  The  whole  world  is  my  parish 
and  to  do  good  my  religion. ' " 

"In  my  Annual  Address  the  next  autumn  at 
Detroit,  this,  which  I  believe  to  be  one  of  those 
revelations  from  God  that  come  to  us  all  in  hours  of 


154  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

special  spiritual  uplift,  was  frankly  placed  before 
my  comrades  who,  although  they  had  no  special 
enthusiasm,  agreed  to  have  the  five  General  Officers 
constitute  a  committee  to  see  what  could  be  done. 
Two  months  later,  Mrs.  Mary  Clement  Leavitt,  of 
Boston,  Massachusetts,  already  one  of  our  national 
organizers,  and  who  was  on  her  way  to  the  Pacific 
Coast  when  the  sights  of  San  Francisco  had  burned 
themselves  into  my  brain,  had  accepted  a  commission 
to  make  a  tour  of  reconnoissance  around  the  world. 
.  .  .  A  year  after  Mrs.  Leavitt's  departure,  while 
following  her  in  my  thought,  I  read  a  book  on  the 
opium  trade  in  India  and  China,  and  under  the 
impulse  of  its  unspeakable  recitals  I  wrote  the 
Polyglot  Petition,  feeling  that  she  must  have  not 
only  the  Crusade  story  to  tell,  with  its  sober  second 
thought  of  organization  under  the  Woman's  Chris- 
tian Temperance  Union,  the  plan  of  organization  to 
describe,  the  white  ribbon  to  pin  above  ten  thousand 
faithful  women's  hearts,  the  noon  hour  of  prayer  to 
impress  upon  their  spirits  the  sense  of  that  divine 
impulse  which  alone  can  give  an  enduring  enthu- 
siasm in  any  cause  —  but  she  must  speak  to  them 
of  something  to  be  done,  and  to  be  done  at  once,  in 
which  all  alike  could  engage  in  England,  America, 
the  Oriental  nations,  the  islands  of  the  sea  and,  so 
far  as  possible,  in  the  continent  of  Europe,  whose 
great  wine-growing  countries  render  it  the  least  and 


FOUNDER  OF  WORLD'S  W.  C.  T.  U.     155 

last  of  all  ill  temperance  reform.  A  petition  against 
the  liquor  traffic  and  the  opium  trade  asking  that 
the  statutes  of  the  world  should  be  lifted  to  the  level 
of  Christian  morals  realized  to  my  thought  'the 
tie  that  binds'  thousands  of  hearts  and  hands  in 
one  common  work,  for  the  uplift  of  humanity,  and 
included  that  'White  Life  for  Two,'  which  has  since 
become  an  integral  part  of  our  work." 

The  pioneer  round-the-world  white-ribbon  mis- 
sionaries who  have  gone  out  under  the  banner  of 
the  World's  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union 
are  Miss  Jessie  Ackermann  (California),  who  honey- 
combed Australia  with  local  unions,  federating  them 
into  a  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  of  their  own,  of  which  she  became  president, 
and  who  also  traversed  all  the  Oriental  countries,  and 
in  her  seven  years  of  journeying  covered  a  distance 
nearly  equal  to  seven  times  around  the  world;  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Wheeler  Andrew  and  Dr.  Kate  C.  Bush- 
nell  (Evanston,  Illinois),  whose  work  resulted  in  the 
breaking  down  of  the  system  of  legalized  vice  in  the 
Lidian  Empire  and  brought  to  light  the  hidden 
things  of  darkness  in  the  opium  trade  of  India  and 
China;  Miss  Mary  Allen  West  (Illinois),  who  fell 
at  her  post  in  far-away  Japan  after  a  few  weeks  of 
heroic  exertion,  leaving  a  memory  hallowed  by  all 
good  people  in  the  beautiful  Empire;  Mrs.  Clara 
Parrish  Wright  (Illinois),  who  was  the  first  missionary 


156  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

to  go  out  from  the  ranks  of  the  young  women, 
taking  up  the  work  where  Miss  West  laid  it  down; 
Miss  Alice  Palmer,  who  remained  nearly  three  years 
in  South  Africa,  placing  the  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  of  that  great  country  on  a  firm 
and  enduring  basis. 

Since  1897,  many  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  missionaries  and  representatives  have  been 
sent  out  by  the  World's  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union.  It  was  the  privilege  of  some,  with 
courage  and  enthusiasm,  to  strengthen  organizations 
already  formed,  while  others  have  traveled  and 
lectured  in  countries  that  never  before  had  listened 
to  the  white-ribbon  gospel. 

The  World's  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  is  now  organized  in  fifty  nations  —  in  America 
(North  and  South),  England,  Europe,  Asia,  Africa, 
Australia,  and  many  islands  of  the  sea.  "It  could 
never  have  been  established,"  said  Frances  Willard, 
"but  for  the  co-operation  of  Christian  missionaries, 
who  are  undoubtedly  the  best  exponents  of  the  gospel 
that  the  church  has  to  show.  '  May  my  right  hand 
forget  its  cunning'  when  it  ceases  to  indite  their 
praise.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  find  out  all  that  is 
helpful  in  the  beliefs  of  Oriental  nations,  but  they 
will  strive  in  vain  to  give  us  any  record  of  Christ- 
like deeds  that  is  at  all  comparable  to  that  made  by 
our  brothers  and  sisters  who,  leaving  home  and 


FOUNDER  OF  WORLD'S  W.  C.  T.  U.     157 

friends,  have  consecrated  their  lives  to  making 
known  in  these  same  countries  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ,  among  which  the  hallowed  home 
of  purity  and  peace  stands  first  of  all." 

Our  leader,  to  whom  belonged  from  first  to  last 
the  inspiration  and  plan  of  this  great  society,  was 
long  ago  described  in  the  words  of  the  apostle, 
"Always  looking  for  and  hastening  unto  the  coming 
of  the  day  of  our  Lord." 

The  Polyglot  Petition  is  a  notable  instance  of 
Miss  Willard's  power  to  pierce  the  future  and  her 
ability  to  plan  for  generations  yet  unborn. 

She  named  this  document  "The  Polyglot  Petition 
for  Home  Protection,"  and  addressed  it,  "To  the 
Governments  of  the  World  (Collectively  and 
Severally)."    The  following  is  its  text: 

Honored  Rulers,  Representatives,  and  Brothers: 

We,  your  petitioners,  although  belonging  to  the 
physically  weaker  sex,  are  strong  of  heart  to  love 
our  homes,  our  native  land,  and  the  world's  family 
of  nations.  We  know  that  clear  brains  and  pure 
hearts  make  honest  lives  and  happy  homes,  and  that 
by  these  the  nations  prosper  and  the  time  is  brought 
nearer  when  the  w  orld  shall  be  at  peace.  We  know 
that  indulgence  in  alcohol  and  opium,  and  in  other 
vices  which  disgrace  our  social  life,  makes  misery 
for  all  the  world,  and  most  of  all  for  us  and  for  our 
children.  We  know  that  stimulants  and  opiates 
are  sold  under  legal  guarantees  which  make  the 


158  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

governments  partners  in  the  traffic  by  accepting  as 
revenue  a  portion  of  the  profits,  and  we  know  with 
shame  that  they  are  often  forced  by  treaty  upon 
populations  either  ignorant  or  unwilHng,  We  know 
that  the  law  might  do  much  now  left  undone  to 
raise  the  moral  tone  of  society  and  render  vice 
difficult.  We  have  no  power  to  prevent  these  great 
iniquities,  beneath  which  the  whole  world  groans, 
but  you  have  power  to  redeem  the  honor  of  the 
nations  from  an  indefensible  complicity.  We, 
therefore,  come  to  you  with  the  united  voices  of 
representative  women  of  every  land,  beseeching  you 
to  raise  the  standard  of  the  law  to  that  of  Christian 
morals,  to  strip  away  the  safeguards  and  sanction 
of  the  State  from  the  drink  traffic  and  the  opium 
trade,  and  to  protect  our  homes  by  the  total  pro- 
hibition of  these  curses  of  civilization  throughout  all 
the  territory  over  which  your  Government  extends. 

This  petition,  written  in  Miss  Willard's  "den"  in 
Evanston  in  the  year  1884,  was  first  presented  to  a 
convention  by  Mrs.  Mary  Bannister  Willard,  at  the 
International  Temperance  Congress  in  Antwerp, 
Belgium,  September  12,  1885.  At  the  first  conven- 
tion of  the  World's  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union,  its  significant  folds  draped  the  walls  of 
historic  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  and  in  Tremont 
Temple  during  the  session  of  the  National  Conven- 
tion immediately  following.  Its  first  formal  presen- 
tation was  in  Washington,  D.  C,  February  15, 1895, 
where    it    decorated    the    great    Convention    Hall 


FOUNDER  OF  WORLD'S   W.  C.  T.  U.      159 

holding  seven  thousand  persons.  Miss  Willard's 
masterly  address  on  that  occasion,  which  embodies 
a  complete  history  of  the  petition  up  to  that  time, 
is  here  partly  reproduced : 

Home  protection  is  the  kej'^word  of  woman's 
work.  Manufacturers  seek  the  tariff  for  the  purpose 
of  protection  to  industries,  adult  and  infant;  trades 
unions  are  founded  to  protect  the  wage-earners  from 
the  aggressions  of  capital,  and  corporations  and 
monopolies  to  protect  from  the  encroachment  of 
competition;  but  ten  thousand  groups  of  loyal- 
hearted  mothers  and  wives,  sisters  and  daughters 
have  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  acting  in  an 
organized  capacity  as  protectors  of  their  homes,  as 
guardians  for  innocent  childhood  and  tempted 
youth.  For  this  cause  "there  are  bands  of  ribbon 
white  around  the  world,"  and  this  Polyglot  Petition 
is  but  our  prayer  that  "tells  out"  a  purpose  of  our 
hearts  and  heads  wrought  into  a  plea  before  the 
nations  of  the  world.  It  is  the  protest  of  the  world's 
wifehood  and  motherhood,  its  sisterhood  and 
daughterhood — a  protest  "in  sorrow,  not  in  anger." 

We  expect  to  present  this  petition  to  represent- 
atives of  every  civilized  government.  This  cannot 
be  done  in  the  usual  form,  because  when  once 
received  this  Magna  Cliarta  of  the  home  would 
become  the  property  of  the  various  legislatures  and 
parliaments,  and  our  plan  requires  that  it  be  con- 
veyed from  one  to  another.  We  are  also  aware  that 
in  a  legal  and  technical  sense  no  government  accepts 
the  signatures  of  those  outside  its  own  boundaries. 
We  have  therefore  preferred  to  make  our  petition 


160  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

a  great  popular  testimonial  against  the  enemies  of 
the  home,  but  we  expect  that  its  presentation  will 
give  an  added  impetus  to  progressive  legislation 
against  the  liquor  traffic,  the  opium  trade,  the  gam- 
bling den,  and  the  house  of  shame. 

The  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  has 
circulated  many  petitions.  The  number  of  sig- 
natures and  attestations  secured  throughout  the 
world  to  our  different  petitions  in  the  last  twenty 
years  aggregates  not  fewer  than  fifteen  millions  of 
names  —  probably  twenty  millions  would  be  nearer 
the  truth.  In  this  estimate  I  include  the  memorials 
and  petitions  for  Scientific  Temperance  Education 
in  the  public  schools;  also  for  laws  raising  the  age  of 
consent  and  otherwise  involving  the  better  protec- 
tion of  women,  not  to  speak  of  the  anti-cigarette 
crusade  and  numberless  local  petitions  circulated 
by  the  faithful  hands  of  white-ribbon  women.  We 
are,  therefore,  veterans  in  our  knowledge  of  petition 
work,  and  for  this  reason  are  perfectly  aware  that  the 
best  outcome  of  such  undertakings  is  the  agitation 
and  consequent  education  that  come  to  those  who 
affix  their  signatures,  or  who  by  resolution  make  the 
prayer  of  the  petition  their  own.  For  example,  in 
the  State  of  Illinois,  in  1878,  we  circulated  a  Home 
Protection  Petition,  asking  that  "since  woman  is 
the  born  conservator  of  home,  and  the  nearest 
natural  protector  of  her  children,  she  should  have  a 
voice  in  the  decision  by  which  the  dramshop  is 
opened  or  is  closed  over  against  her  home."  Two 
hundred  thousand  names  were  secured  in  a  few 
weeks,  some  of  us  traveling  from  town  to  town  for 
this  purpose,  and  remaining  for  months  at  Spring- 


FOUNDER  OF   WORLD'S   W.  C.  T.  U.      IGl 

field,  the  capital,  in  the  hope  that  the  legislature 
would  adopt  the  Hinds  Bill,  based  upon  this 
righteous  plea.  I  need  not  say  that  we  were  wholly 
unsuccessful  with  that  legislature.  Not  for  that 
end  was  it  born;  not  for  that  cause  did  it  sit  in  the 
great  state  house  among  the  cornfields  of  the  Prairie 
State  and  near  the  tomb  of  the  immortal  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

We  prize  the  Polyglot  Petition  w^ork  because  it 
has  afforded  a  nucleus  around  which  women  may 
rally.  It  has  furnished  immediate  work  to  new  and 
distant  societies  which  was  essential  to  their  success. 
The  petition  has  also  been  the  peg  upon  which  have 
been  paragraphs  and  presentation  speeches,  sermons 
and  songs  in  every  part  of  Christendom  —  and  the 
end  is  not  yet;  nay,  the  beginning  is  hardly  here. 
Because  we  are  patriots  we  have  come  to  the  capital 
of  our  native  land  to  present  this  petition,  first  of 
all,  in  the  country  in  which  it  originated,  and  which 
has  sent  out  all  the  white-ribbon  missionaries  who 
have  secured  its  circulation  in  foreign  countries. 
The  greatest  number  of  names,  indorsements,  and 
attestations  has  been  secured  in  our  own  country, 
and  next  to  ours  in  Great  Britain.  We  could  not 
have  secured  signatures  in  Oriental  countries  but 
for  the  co-operation  of  the  denominational  mis- 
sionaries W'ho  have  been  most  faithful  and  devoted. 

The  signatures  came  to  hand  in  fifty  languages; 
they  were  of  all  sorts  and  sizes,  and  were  trimmed 
and  prepared  for  mounting  as  compactly  as  possible 
on  interminable  webs  of  muslin,  one-half  yard  in 
width,  one  edge  of  which  is  bound  with  red,  and  the 
other  with  blue  ribbon  —  red,  white,  and  blue  being 


162  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

the  prevalent  colors  of  the  flags  of  all  nations  and 
the  symbolic  badges  of  the  great  temperance  move- 
ment of  modern  times. 

The  names  are  necessarily  mounted  somewhat 
irregularly,  but  they  average  four  columns  abreast, 
making,  in  reality,  a  quadruple  petition,  with  about 
one  hundred  names  to  the  yard  in  each  column, 
making  five  miles  of  names  written  solidly,  one 
under  the  other  —  771,200  in  all.  This  is  exclusive 
of  about  350,000  names  that  came  from  Great 
Britain  already  mounted,  making  the  total  of 
1,121,200  actual  names  on  the  document  that  will 
be  submitted  to  President  Cleveland.  Besides  these, 
there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  names  yet  wait- 
ing to  be  added  to  the  long  roll. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  signatures  to 
this  petition  are  of  three  kinds :  First,  the  names  of 
women;  second,  the  written  indorsements  of  men; 
third,  the  attestations  of  officers  of  societies  which 
have  indorsed  the  petition  by  resolution  or  other- 
wise. The  document  has  been  circulated  in  fifty 
nations,  and  in  the  three  ways  stated  has  received 
over  7,000,000  signatures.  The  total  number  of 
actual  signers  from  outside  the  United  States  is 
480,000.  Great  Britain,  with  Lady  Henry  Somer- 
set's name  at  the  head,  leads  the  procession  with  its 
350,000.  Canada  comes  next  with  67,000.  Burma 
with  32,000,  and  Ceylon,  Australia,  Denmark,  China, 
India,  and  Mexico  follow,  with  all  the  others  coming 
after. 

Though  this  is  a  woman's  petition,  it  should  be 
noted  that  it  is  indorsed  by  perhaps  1,000,000  men 
—  some  by  personal  signatures,  but  the  greater 
number  by  the  attestation  of  the  officers  of  societies 


FOUNDER  OF  WORLD'S  W.  C.  T.  U.,    163 

to  which  they  belong.  Even  from  far-off  Ceylon, 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  think  of  as  a  small  island 
of  dusky  savages,  come  the  signatures  of  27,000  men 
who  call  for  the  cessation  of  the  liquor  and  opium 
traffic.  The  following  are  the  countries  represented 
by  this  petition: 

United  States  —  forty-eight  states,  Hawaiian 
Islands  and  Alaska;  Canada — Nova  Scotia,  New 
Brunswick,  Prince  Edward  Island,  Quebec,  Ontario, 
Manitoba  and  British  Columbia;  Newfoundland, 
Mexico,  Jamaica,  Bahamas,  Madeira,  Brazil,  Chile, 
Uruguay,  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Wales,  France, 
Holland,  Belgium,  Denmark,  N®rway,  Sweden, 
Spain,  Russia,  Finland,  Turkey,  Bulgaria,  China, 
Japan,  India,  Burma,  Siam,  Korea,  Ceylon,  Egypt, 
Congo  Free  State,  Transvaal,  West  and  South 
Africa,  Angola,  Madagascar,  Mozambique,  Victoria, 
South  Australia,  Queensland,  New  South  Wales, 
Tasmania,  New  Zealand. 

To  enumerate  the  languages  in  whose  characters 
the  beliefs  of  women  have  been  recorded  in  this  far- 
reaching  document  would  be  to  make  a  list  of  almost 
every  tongue  that  has  survived  the  confusion  of 
Babel,  The  total,  counting  men's  and  women's 
signatures,  indorsements,  and  attestations,  aggregates 
seven  and  one  half  millions. 

In  making  this  petition,  we  claim  we  are  entirely 
constitutional,  inasmuch  as  the  right  to  sign  "has 
not  been  denied  or  abridged  on  account  of  race, 
color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude."  Perhaps 
this  is  the  reason  why  we  have  secured  many  names 
of  reformed  men,  and  why  Catholic,  Protestant,  and 
pagan  have  all  been  represented. 

It  would  be  invidious  to  mention  the  names  of 


164  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

signers,  but  they  represent  every  grade  of  human 
life,  and  the  great  procession  is  headed  by  the  name 
of  Neal  Dow,  the  father  of  prohibitory  law,  who 
signed  when  over  ninety  years  of  age.  Scientists 
teach  that  every  signature  involves  some  touch  of 
personality,  not  only  in  the  appearance  of  the  auto- 
graph itself,  but  by  the  impartation  of  individual 
particles  that  surround  everyone,  and  which  project 
themselves  into  every  deed  that  we  perform.  That 
this  is  true  is  more  than  likely,  so  that  when  we  con- 
sider that  every  nation,  tribe,  and  people  of  the  earth, 
almost,  is  represented;  when  we  reflect  that  these 
infinitely  varied  autographs  representing  persons 
born  and  bred  under  equally  varying  conditions  have 
found  in  this  petition  against  the  greatest  curses  of 
the  world  their  focusing  point,  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  by  God's  good  providence  we  have  in 
the  Polyglot  Petition  the  promise  and  potency  of  the 
better  time  when,  by  the  personal  interdict  of  a  higher 
intelligence  and  the  conclusive  law  of  social  custom, 
the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  and  opium  shall  be 
banned  and  banished  from  the  world.  In  that  day 
the  laws  for  which  the  great  petition  asks  and  which 
we  believe  must  be  enacted  as  the  most  cogent  means 
of  education  for  the  people  will  no  longer  be  re- 
quired, but  every  human  being  will  enact  in  the 
legislature  of  his  own  intellect  a  prohibitory  law  for 
one  and  enforce  that  law  by  the  executive  of  his  own 
will. 

"It  will  come  by  and  by,  when  the  race  out  of 
childhood  has  grown." 

It  is  more  than  ten  years  since  the  petition  was 
written;  if  I  had  to  rewrite  it  I  should  assuredly  in- 


FOUNDER  OF  WORLD'S  W.  C.  T.  U.     165 

elude  the  enfranchisement  of  women  among  the 
requisites  it  specifies,  for  I  believe  that  our  Heavenly 
Father  will  not  suffer  men  alone  to  work  out  the 
great  redemption  of  the  race  from  the  bewilderment 
of  drink,  the  hallucination  of  opium,  and  the  brutal 
delirium  of  impurity.  Hand  in  hand  we  have 
traversed  the  Sahara  of  ignorance  and  escaped  from 
the  City  of  Destruction;  hand  in  hand  let  us  mount 
the  heights  of  knowledge,  purity,  and  peace. 

The  personal  presentation  of  the  petition  to  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  at  the  White  House  was  made  on  the 
afternoon  of  February  19,  1895,  the  General  Officers 
of  the  World's  and  National  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Unions  with  the  President  of  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  being  granted  an  interview  at  the 
Executive  Mansion.    Miss  Willard  spoke  as  follows : 

Mr.  President:  The  Polyglot  Petition,  ad- 
dressed to  the  governments  of  the  world,  and  calling 
for  the  prohibition  of  the  traffic  in  alcoholic  liquors 
as  a  drink,  the  prohibition  of  the  opium  traflBc  and 
all  forms  of  legalized  social  vice,  has  been  signed 
by  half  a  million  citizens  of  this  republic;  by  means 
of  signatures,  indorsements,  and  attestations  it 
includes  seven  and  a  half  million  adherents  in  fifty 
different  nationalities.  This  petition  has  been  cir- 
culated by  the  World's  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union,  and  will  be  presented  to  all  the  lead- 
ing governments.  Inasmuch  as  the  petition  origina- 
ted and  has  been  most  largely  signed  in  the  United 


166  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

States,  it  is  hereby  respectfully  brought  to  your 
attention,  not  on  any  legal  ground,  but  because  it  is 
addressed  to  the  governments  of  the  world,  and  you 
are  the  executive  chief  of  this  Government. 

After  putting  a  copy  of  the  petition  into  the  Presi- 
dent's hands,  the  Recording  Secretary  of  the  Nation- 
al Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  read  the 
document  with  remarkable  impressiveness,  and 
Miss  Willard  resumed: 

Mr.  President:  We  are  aware  that  the  petition 
just  read  in  your  hearing  cannot  come  before  you  as 
a  legal  document,  but  rather  as  an  expression  of  the 
opinion  and  sentiment  of  a  great  multitude  of  your 
countrywomen  who  believe  that  if  its  prayer  were 
granted  the  better  protection  of  the  home  would  be 
secured.  Knowing  how  difficult  it  was  for  you  to 
grant  us  this  hearing  at  a  time  when  you  are  even 
more  than  usually  weighted  with  great  responsi- 
bilities, we  have  foreborne  to  bring  the  Great  Peti- 
tion to  the  White  House.  Permit  me  to  hand  you 
this  attested  copy  and  to  thank  you  on  behalf  of 
this  delegation,  representing  the  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  in  this  and  other  lands,  for  the 
kind  reception  you  have  given  to  our  delegation. 

In  the  following  spring  the  petition  was  taken  to 
London  and  was  the  central  feature  of  the  Third 
Biennial  Convention  of  the  World's  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union.  In  Prince  Albert 
Hall,  where  the  monster  demonstration  meeting  was 


FOUNDER  OF  WORLD'S  W.  C.  T.  U.      167 

held,  its  countless  folds  encircled  galleries  and  plat- 
form like  a  huge  white  ribbon  into  which  had  been 
woven  the  symbolic  badges  of  the  great  host  of 
women  who  in  every  land  arc  publishing  the  tidings 
of  purity  and  total  abstinence.  Lady  Henry  Somer- 
set presented  to  Her  Majesty,  Queen  Victoria,  two 
richly  bound  and  illuminated  volumes  containing 
the  text  of  the  petition  with  the  signatures  of  such 
of  her  loyal  subjects  as  were  among  its  signers. 

In  1897  the  great  rolls  crossed  the  ocean  again  to 
adorn  Massey  Music  Hall,  Toronto,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  Fourth  World's  Woman's  Christian  Temper- 
ance Union  Convention.  Miss  Willard  did  not  live 
to  fulfill  her  earnest  desire  to  present  the  petition  to 
the  Canadian  Government,  and  Mrs.  Lillian  M.  N. 
Stevens  ably  represented  her  at  a  great  meeting 
held  in  Ottawa,  presided  over  by  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier. 
Frances  E.  Willard  has  left  this  petition  as  a  precious 
legacy  to  her  white-ribbon  sisters,  as  well  as  an 
object  lesson  to  the  world  of  the  marvelous  dimen- 
sions to  which  an  idea  may  obtain. 

At  the  Toronto  Convention  of  the  World's 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  Miss  Wil- 
lard's  faith  in  the  ultimate  outcome  of  twenty-four 
years  of  heroic  struggle  shone  with  undimmed  luster. 
She  presided  magnificently,  and  never  was  it  more 
apparent  that  she  held  in  her  little  hand  both  ends 
of  the  white  ribbon  that  belts  the  globe.     It  was  a 


168  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

notable  address  that  she  delivered  the  first  morning 
of  the  Convention,  and  it  was  her  last  message  to 
her  white-ribbon  sisters  of  the  World's  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union.  The  concluding 
paragraph  is  given: 

One  day  a  young  nobleman  on  horseback  rode 
impatiently  up  and  down  the  streets  of  a  village  in 
Cornwall.  He  was  seeking  for  a  public  house  where 
he  could  get  a  glass  of  that  concerning  which  our 
Shakespeare  said,  "Alas,  that  men  should  put  an 
enemy  in  their  mouths  to  steal  away  their  brains." 
But  his  search  was  vain,  and  coming  upon  a  white- 
haired  peasant  on  his  way  home,  after  a  day  of  toil, 
the  young  man  said  with  rising  anger,  "Why  is  it 
that  I  cannot  get  a  glass  of  liquor  in  this  wretched 
little  village?  "  The  old  man  recognized  to  whom  he 
was  to  speak,  and  taking  off  his  cap  made  his  humble 
obeisance  and  replied,  "My  lord,  about  a  hundred 
years  ago,  a  man  named  John  Wesley  came  to  these 
parts"  —  and  the  old  peasant  walked  on.  "A 
hundred  years,"  and  he  was  living  still,  that  daunt- 
less, devoted  disciple  of  our  Lord!  Cornwall  has 
never  been  the  same  since  John  Wesley  went  there 
to  preach  the  gospel  of  a  clear  brain  and  a  conse- 
crated heart.  Of  whom  will  such  great  words  be 
spoken  when  a  century  has  passed  in  those  dear 
countries  of  the  English-speaking  race,  from  which 
most  of  us  have  come?  Who  doubts  but  that  in 
Maine  some  good  man  going  to  his  safe  and  happy 
home  will  be  saying  in  answer  to  some  unfriendly 
wight,  vexed  because  he  cannot  get  his  dram,  "A 


FOUNDER  OF  WORLD'S   W.  C.  T.  U.     169 

hundred  years  ago  a  man  named  Neal  Dow  came  to 
these  parts?" 

Who  does  not  believe  that  in  Canada  some  loyal 
voice  will  give  the  explanation,  "A  hundred  years 
ago  Letitia  Youmans  came  to  these  i)arts?  "  Verily, 
comrades,  we  are  building  better  than  we  know.  It 
is  a  holy  thing,  this  influence  that  reaches  on  and 
away  into  illimitable  distance;  this  coming  to  be  one 
of  the  wheels  within  the  wheels  that  are  the  wheels  of 
God.  For  it  is  said,  "The  wheels  were  full  of  eyes, " 
and  these  eyes  are  on  us  when  we  know  it  not;  they 
see  us  when  we  wake  and  when  we  sleep. 


CHAPTER  XI 

A   GREAT   MOTHER 

"There  are  not  many  men,  and  as  yet  but  few 
women,  of  whom  when  you  think  or  speak  it  occurs 
to  you  that  they  are  great,"  said  Miss  Willard. 
"What  is  the  line  that  could  mark  such  a  sphere? 
To  my  mind  it  must  include  this  trinity  —  great- 
ness of  thought,  of  heart,  of  will.  There  have  been 
men  and  women  concerning  whose  greatness  of 
intellect  none  disputed,  but  they  were  poverty- 
stricken  in  the  region  of  the  affections,  or  they  were 
Lilliputians  in  the  realm  of  will.  There  have  been 
mighty  hearts,  beating  strong  and  full  as  a  ship's 
engine,  but  they  were  mated  to  a  'straightened 
forehead.'  There  have  been  Napoleonic  wills,  but 
unbalanced  by  strong  power  of  thought  and  senti- 
ment —  they  were  like  a  cyclone  or  a  wandering 
star.  It  takes  force  centrifugal  and  force  centripetal 
to  balance  and  hold  a  character  to  the  ellipse  of  a 
true  orbit. 

"My  mother,  my  Saint  Courageous,  was  great 

in  the  sense  of  this  majestic  symmetry.     The  classic 

writer  who  said, '  I  am  human,  and  whatever  touches 

humanity  touches  me,*  could  not  have  been  more 

170 


A  GREAT  MOTHER  171 

worthy  to  utter  the  words  than  was  this  Methodist 
cosmopolite  who  spoke  them  to  me  within  a  few 
days  of  her  ascent  to  heaven.  She  had  no  pettiness. 
It  was  the  habit  of  her  mind  to  study  subjects  from 
the  point  of  harmony.  She  did  not  say,  'Wherein 
does  this  Baptist  or  this  Presbyterian  differ  from 
the  creed  in  which  I  have  been  reared?'  But  it 
was  as  natural  to  her  as  it  is  to  a  rose  to  give  forth 
fragrance  to  say  to  herself  and  others:  'Wherein 
does  this  Presbyterian  or  Baptist  harmonize  with 
the  views  that  are  dear  to  me?'  Then  she  dwelt 
upon  that  harmony  and  through  it  brought  those 
about  her  into  oneness  of  sympathy  with  herself. 
She  was  occupied  with  great  themes.  I  never 
heard  a  word  of  gossip  from  her  lips.  She  had  no 
time  for  it.  Her  life  illustrated  the  poet's  line: 
'There  is  no  finer  flower  on  this  green  earth  than  courage.* 
"My  mother  had  courage  of  intellect  and  heart, 
and  physical  courage  as  well,  beyond  any  other 
woman  that  I  have  known.  '  We  are  saved  by  hope,' 
was  the  motto  of  her  life.  'This  is  our  part,  and 
all  the  part  we  have,'  she  used  to  say.  'The  exist- 
ence and  love  of  God  are  the  pulse  of  our  being, 
whether  we  live  or  die.' 

"Some  characters  have  a  great  and  varied  land- 
scape, and  a  light  like  that  of  Raphael's  pictures; 
others  show  forth  some  strong,  single  feature  in  a 
light  like  that  of  Rembrandt;   some  have  head- 


172  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

lands  and  capes,  bays  and  skies,  meadows  and  prai- 
ries and  seas.  The  more  scenery  there  is  in  a  char- 
acter, the  greater  it  is  —  the  more  it  ranges  from 
the  amusing  to  the  sublime.  My  mother's  nature 
had  in  it  perspective,  atmosphere,  landscape  of 
earth  and  sky. 

"She  was  not  given  to  introspection,  which  is  so 
often  the  worm  in  the  bud  of  genius.  'They  are 
not  great  who  counsel  with  their  fears.'  Applied 
Christianity  was  the  track  along  which  the  energy 
of  her  nature  was  driven  by  the  Divine  Spirit.  She 
would  have  been  just  as  great  whether  the  world 
had  ever  learned  of  it  or  not.  'Mute  Mil  tons' 
are  not  all  'inglorious,'  and  however  small  the 
circle  might  have  been  in  which  she  spent  her  days, 
she  whom  we  loved  and  for  awhile  have  lost  would 
inevitably  have  been  recognized  as  one  adequate  to 
the  ruling  of  a  state  or  a  nation  with  mild  and  master- 
ly sway.  The  fortunes  of  the  great  white-ribbon 
cause  gave  her  a  pedestal  to  stand  upon.  She  had 
been,  in  her  beautiful  home,  a  mother  so  beloved 
that  she  drew  all  her  household  toward  her  as  the 
sun  does  the  planets  round  about  him,  but  she  be- 
came a  mother  to  our  whole  army.  She  came  to 
the  kingdom  for  a  sorrowful  time,  w^hen  homes 
were  shadowed  over  all  the  land  and  her  motherly 
nature  found  a  circle  as  wide  as  the  shadow  cast 
upon  the  republic  by  the  nation's  dark  echpse. 


A   GREAT   MOTHER  173 

Perhaps,  until  then,  she  had  not  been  a  radical  so 
pronounced  as  she  became  in  these  later  battle 
years,  but  what  she  saw  and  learned  and  suffered, 
out  in  the  cross-currents  of  society  and  the  great 
world,  made  her  as  strong  a  believer  in  the  emancipa- 
tion of  woman  as  any  person  whom  I  have  ever 
met.  She  had  no  harsh  word  for  anybody;  no 
criticism  on  the  past.  She  recognized  the  present 
situation  as  the  inevitable  outcome  of  the  age  of 
force,  but  her  great  soul  was  suffused  to  its  last 
fiber  with  the  enthusiasm  for  woman.  She  be- 
lieved in  her  sex;  she  had  pride  in  it;  she  regarded 
its  capacities  of  mental  and  moral  improvement 
as  illimitable,  but  at  the  same  time  she  was  a  de- 
voted friend  to  men.  How  could  she  be  other- 
wise with  a  husband  true  and  loyal  and  with  a  loving 
and  genial  son.^  All  her  ideas  upon  the  woman 
question  were  but  a  commentary  upon  her  devotion 
to  that  larger  human  question  which  is  the  great 
circle  of  which  the  woman  question  is  but  an  arc. 
Oftentimes  I  have  said  to  myself, '  If  this  temperance 
movement  had  come  to  women  in  her  day  what  a 
great  magnetic  leader  she  would  have  been.  How 
wholly  she  would  have  given  herself  to  the  Woman 's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  seeing  in  it  the  out- 
come of  all  her  hopes  and  prophecies,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  home  and  the  regnancy  of  *  two  heads 
in  counsel,  two  beside  the  hearth.'" 


174  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

The  following  reference  to  Madam  Willard's 
charming  methods  of  child  culture  is  given  by  her 
daughter: 

"She  never  expected  us  to  be  bad  children,  I 
never  heard  her  refer  to  total  depravity  as  our  in- 
evitable heritage;  she  always  said  when  we  were 
cross,  'Where  is  my  bright  little  girl  that  is  so 
pleasant  to  have  about?  Somebody  must  have 
taken  her  away  and  left  this  little  creature  here 
who  has  a  scowl  upon  her  face.'  She  always  ex- 
pected us  to  do  well;  and  after  a  long  and  beautiful 
life,  when  she  was  sitting  in  sunshine  calm  and 
sweet  at  eighty-seven  years  of  age,  she  said  to  one 
who  asked  what  she  would  have  done  differently 
as  a  mother  if  she  had  her  life  to  live  over  again, 
*I  should  blame  less  and  praise  more.'  She  used 
to  say  that  a  little  child  is  a  figure  of  pathos.  With- 
out volition  of  its  own,  it  finds  itself  in  a  most  diflBcult 
scene;  it  looks  around  on  every  side  for  help,  and 
we  who  are  grown  way-wise  should  make  it  feel  at 
all  times  tenderly  welcome,  and  nourish  it  in  the 
fruitful  atmosphere  of  love,  trust,  and  approbation. 

"With  such  a  mother,  my  home  life  was  full  of 
inspiration;  she  encouraged  every  out-branching 
thought  and  purpose.  When  I  wished  to  play  out- 
of-doors  with  my  brother,  and  do  the  things  he  did, 
she  never  said,  *0h,  that  is  not  for  girls!'  but  en- 
couraged him  to  let  me  be  his  little  comrade;  by 


A   GREAT   MOTHER  175 

which  means  he  became  the  most  considerate, 
chivalric  boy  I  ever  knew,  for  mother  taught  him 
that  nothing  could  be  more  for  her  hapj>iness  and 
his  than  that  he  should  be  good  to  'little  sister.' 
By  this  means  I  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in  the 
open  air,  and  learned  the  pleasant  sports  by  which 
boys  store  up  vigor  for  the  years  to  come.  She 
used  to  take  me  on  her  knee  and  teach  me  the  poems 
of  which  she  was  most  fond,  explaining  what  the 
poet  meant,  so  that  even  at  an  early  age  I  could 
understand  much  that  was  dear  to  her.  Then  she 
would  place  me  —  a  fragile  little  figure  —  on  a 
chair  or  table,  and  have  me  repeat  these  poems, 
'suiting  the  action  to  the  word.*  Once  when  a 
neighbor  came  in  and  told  her  that  Frankie  was 
standing  on  the  gatepost  making  a  speech,  and 
warned  her  that  she  must  curb  my  curious  taste, 
mother  ran  out  delighted,  took  me  in  her  arms,  and 
without  criticising  me  for  having  chosen  such  a 
public  pedestal,  told  me  she  thought  I  would  better 
say  my  'pieces'  to  her  rather  than  to  anyone  who 
might  be  passing  by,  because  she  understood  them 
better  and  could  help  me  to  speak  them  right. 

"To  my  mind,  the  jewel  of  her  character  and 
method  with  her  children  was  that  she  knew  how 
without  effort  to  keep  an  open  way  always  between 
her  inmost  heart  and  theirs;  they  wanted  no  other 
comforter;  everybody   seemed   less  desirable  than 


176  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

mother.  If  something  very  pleasant  happened  to  us 
when  we  were  out  playing  with  other  children,  or 
spending  an  afternoon  at  a  neighbor's,  we  would 
scamper  home  as  fast  as  our  little  feet  would  carry 
us,  because  we  did  not  feel  as  if  we  had  gained  the 
full  happiness  from  anything  that  came  to  us  until 
mother  knew  it." 

Sir  Walter  Scott  tells  a  story  of  a  orave  young 
knight  in  whose  soul  burned  the  Crusader's  passion 
to  rescue  from  the  infidels '  defiling  hands  the  tomb 
of  his  hero-Christ.  Girding  on  shield  and  buckler 
and  sword,  he  knelt  before  the  woman  who  through 
the  years  had  given  her  life  to  him  in  lavishment  of 
mother-love  and  claimed  her  mother-blessing  on  his 
eager  heart's  desire.  With  never  a  falter  of  voice 
or  a  sob  to  betray  her  anguish  of  grief  and  fear, 
with  never  a  tremble  in  the  hand  that  touched  his 
bright  young  head,  with  only  courage  in  tender  tone 
and  touch,  she  sent  him  forth,  inspired  by  her  bless- 
ing under  the  banner  of  her  love.  In  his  garments 
she  hid  her  jewels  against  his  hour  of  need,  and 
with  the  promise  that  she  would  stay  at  home  and 
guard  for  him  his  castle  and  his  lands,  she  bade  him 
depart,  remembering  that  his  glory  was  to  redress 
human  wrongs,  to  keep  a  spotless  sword  and  soul. 
When  many  years  had  come  and  gone  and  the 
youth  returned  crowned  with  victories  won  on 
many  a  field  where  he  had  vanquished  wrong,  he 


A   GREAT   MOTHER  177 

found  his  castle  and  his  hinds  better  cared  for  than 
when  he  left,  his  people  taught  to  reverence  his 
name  and  to  love  him  for  his  knightly  deeds. 

This  beautiful  picture  of  the  Scottish  novelist 
but  faintly  sets  forth  the  work  of  that  noble  mother, 
"Saint  Courageous,"  who,  when  the  daughter  went 
forth  the  "Knight  of  a  New  Chivalry,"  kept  the 
fires  of  love  burning  brightly  upon  her  hearth,  kept 
the  light  in  the  window  for  the  brave  daughter  who 
went  forth  on  her  crusade  pilgrimages,  not  to  save 
an  empty  tomb,  but  to  rescue  the  living  Christ  in 
human  hearts  from  the  enemies  that  defile  the 
temple  of  God. 

To  the  music  of  the  Traveler's  Psalm  (Ps.  cxxi), 
accompanied  by  the  strong,  tender  voice  of  com- 
mending prayer.  Mother  Willard  sent  forth  her 
apostle  of  sweetness  and  purity  and  light,  even  as 
of  old  that  English  mother  commended  her  young 
knight  to  the  guidance  of  Him  who  had  promised 
victory  to  all  who  war  against  iniquity  and  sin.  And 
to  that  heart  and  home  the  gentle  conqueror  hasten- 
ed back  less  like  a  victor  to  claim  her  own  than  like 
a  bird  to  its  sheltering  nest.  Here  one  month  at 
least  of  every  year  was  given  to  her  mother,  that 
the  springs  of  love  and  hope  and  inspiration  might 
be  refilled.  Sitting  by  the  fire  with  clasped  hands, 
the  mother  would  give  to  her  daughter  reminiscences 
of  her  early  life,  telling  of  the  beautiful  Christian 


178  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

traits  of  her  father  and  mother;  recalling  to  mind 
the  older  home  in  Vermont;  describing  the  noble 
hills  upon  which  her  windows  looked;  recounting 
the  way  she  spent  her  days,  the  morning  hours 
given  to  books  and  study,  the  afternoons  to  weav- 
ing, spinning,  and  household  cares,  the  evenings 
spent  again  about  the  fireside,  until  when  nine 
o'clock  struck,  the  entire  household  assembled 
while  her  father  read  from  the  dear  old  Bible  and, 
by  the  force  of  fervent  prayer,  drew  them  all  with- 
in the  circle  of  divine  protection  and  love.  Often 
the  household  saint  would  break  forth  into  words  of 
gratitude  for  the  long  life  that  had  been  so  rich  in 
opportunity,  so  blessed  with  friendships  and  affec- 
tion. Often  she  rejoiced  in  the  good  gift  of  the 
uninterrupted  strength  that  enabled  her  to  fill  all 
the  years  with  toil.  Neither  mother  nor  daughter 
was  ever  able  to  brook  the  thought  of  invalidism; 
they  could  not  bear  to  think  of  rivers  that  die  away 
in  the  sand  before  their  force  is  spent.  They  wished 
rather  to  resemble  those  streams  which  run  full- 
breasted  to  the  sea,  and  bear  to  the  ocean  upon  their 
bosoms  fleets  of  prosperity  and  of  peace. 

*'  I  must  keep  well  for  the  sake  of  my  daughter  and 
the  work  God  has  given  her  to  do,"  would  say  this 
sympathetic  mother,  who  in  her  seventieth  year 
led  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  of 
her  own  town.     If  the  daughter  encircled  the  world 


A   GREAT   MOTHER  179 

with  the  white  ribbon  of  love  and  sympathy,  the 
threads  of  that  shining  strand  were  surely  spun  in 
the  warp  and  woof  of  her  mother's  loving  care. 

Each  passing  season  as  the  years  sped  on  found 
her  more  and  more  the  child  of  happiness  and  hope. 
Pilgrims  from  the  noble  army  of  workers  who  turned 
from  life's  fret  and  fever  to  seek  an  hour  apart  in 
Rest  Cottage,  will  remember  the  sunny  upper  room 
which  all  looked  upon  as  the  chamber  of  peace. 
Its  tranquillity  was  the  atmosphere  exhaled  by  the 
sweet  spirit  of  this  woman  of  courage  and  of  buoyant 
optimism,  this  self-sustained  soul,  whose  quietness 
and  assurance  were  her  strength. 

In  that  chamber  bright  with  her  presence  one 
always  found  Madam  Willard  with  a  serene  smile 
upon  her  face  and  a  word  of  good  cheer  trembling 
on  her  lips.  On  the  tables  around  her  were  grouped 
her  favorite  authors,  scrapbooks  upon  which  she 
was  working,  letters  and  documents  intended  to 
further  the  beloved  cause  of  reform.  During  her 
daughter's  long  absences,  Madam  Willard  was  lov- 
ingly ministered  to  by  the  white-ribbon  sisters  who 
for  many  years  made  a  home  for  themselves  in  the 
addition  to  Rest  Cottage,  built  and  formerly  oc- 
cupied by  Mrs.  Mary  B.  Willard. 

Recalling  her  first  visit  to  Rest  Cottage  in  October, 
1891,  Lady  Henry  Somerset,  whom  Madam  Willard 
fondly  called  her  "English  daughter,"  writes: 


180  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

"  When  I  came  to  your  shores  a  stranger  a  year  ago 
the  name  of  Frances  Willard  was  as  famihar  to  me 
as  it  is  to  women  all  over  the  world  who  are  in  any 
way  associated  with  works  of  philanthopy  or  the 
upbuilding  of  the  home.  I  had  read  her  life  and 
had  some  knowledge  of  her  work,  and  with  that 
work  of  course  her  mother's  name  was  closely 
associated.  But  only  when  I  crossed  the  threshold 
of  Rest  Cottage  could  I  realize  what  a  factor  that 
mother  had  been  in  her  great  career.  I  have  mingled 
with  those  who  are  called  noble  because  of  hereditary 
descent;  I  have  talked  with  empresses  and  queens, 
with  princesses  and  princes,  but  when  I  took  the 
hand  of  Madam  Willard  and  she  welcomed  me  to 
her  heart  and  home,  I  knew  instantly  and  instinct- 
ively that  here  was  one  of  the  world's  great  women. 
A  lady  of  such  fine,  delicate  instinct,  with  a  mind  so 
cultivated  and  purified  by  continued  aspiration 
toward  the  good  and  true;  with  a  face  serene  and 
full  of  all  that  inherent  worth  which  came  to  her 
through  her  spotless  ancestry  and  her  own  natural 
purity  and  refinement,  I  at  once  classed  with  all 
the  greatest  and  noblest  that  I  had  ever  met.  I 
need  not  dwell  here  upon  the  way  in  which  that  home 
circle  impressed  me,  but  as  I  turn  the  pages  of  my 
Bible,  I  find  a  note  entered  there  which  I  wrote  the 
first  night  on  which  I  came  beneath  that  roof: 
'October  28,  1891 — A  day  to  be  remembered  in 
thanksgiving.     Rest  Cottage,  Evanston.'" 

'  Mrs.  Willard 's  mind  was  stored  with  much  of 
the  best  English  prose  and  verse,  of  which  in  her 
rhythmic,  expressive  voice  she  would  often  recite  her 
favorite  stanzas. 


A   GREAT  MOTHER  181 

Sitting  at  the  head  of  the  table  on  the  morning 

of   her   eighty -seventh    birthday,    she    quoted    the 

following  lines: 

"Never,  my  heart,  shall  thou  grow  old; 
My  hair  is  white,  my  blood  runs  cold. 
And  one  by  one  my  powers  depart. 
But  youth  sits  smiling  in  my  heart." 

Her  daughter  writes:  "A  volume  of  household 
words  might  readily  be  made  from  my  recollections 
of  mother's  quotations  from  poets  and  philos- 
ophers." Her  motto,  "It  is  better  farther  on," 
was  taken  from  "The  Song  of  Hope,"  and  the 
memory  of  her  low  sustained  voice,  as  she  used  to 
repeat  it,  will  forever  linger  in  the  hearts  of  those 
who  heard. 

"A  soft,  sweet  voice  from  Eden  stealing. 
Such  as  but  to  angels  known, 
Hope's  cheering  song  is  ever  thrilling: 
It  is  better  farther  on. 

"  I  hear  hope  singing,  sweetly  singing. 
Softly  in  an  undertone; 
And  singing  as  if  God  had  taught  it: 
It  is  better  farther  on. 

"Still  farther  on — oh,  how  mucn  farther? 
Count  the  milestones  one  by  one? 
No!  No!  no  counting!    Only  trusting 
It  is  better  farther  on." 

Two  of  her  favorite  preachers  were  George  Mac- 
donald  and  Phillips  Brooks.  From  the  first,  she 
often  quoted  this  sentiment:  "Age  is  not  all  de- 
cay; it  is  the  ripening,  the  swelling  of  the  fresh  life 


182  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

within  that  withers  and  bursts  the  husks."  And 
from  the  second,  she  quoted  the  question:  "Why 
cannot  we,  slipping  our  hands  into  His  each  day, 
walk  trustingly  over  the  day's  appointed  path, 
thorny  or  flowery,  crooked  or  straight,  knowing 
that  evening  will  bring  us  sweet  peace  and  home?" 

She  was  wont  to  watch  the  children  of  the  neigh- 
borhood as  they  passed  Rest  Cottage  on  their  way 
to  school.  She  would  speak  of  them  in  a  voice  of 
infinite  tenderness  and  sympathy,  hoping  and  pray- 
ing that  they  might  have  friends  in  their  youth  and 
inexperience,  that  they  might  make  their  way  nobly 
and  well  along  the  intricate  path  of  life  and  into  a 
safer  and  a  better  world.  Indeed,  the  only  note 
that  was  not  jubilant  in  all  the  many  keys  that  her 
varied  conversation  struck  was  when  she  talked  of 
the  pitiful  little  child  let  loose  in  this  great  grind- 
ing mill  of  a  world. 

At  eighty-five  she  wrote  a  charming  bit  of  verse 
which  has  been  recited  all  over  the  world  by  the 
little  soldiers  newly  mustered  in  to  fight  the  army 
of  temptation  and  of  sin: 

LITTLE  PEOPLE 

"  The  world  will  be  what  you  make  it. 

Little  people; 
It  will  be  as,  you  shape  it. 

Little  people. 
Then  be  studious  and  brave. 
And  your  country  help  to  save. 

Little  people. 


A   GREAT   MOTHER  183 

"When  we  walk  into  the  gray, 
And  you  into  the  day, 

Little  people, 
We  will  beckon  you  along 
W  ith  a  very  tender  song. 

Little  people. 

"  If  war  is  in  the  air, 
When  we  make  our  6nal  prayer. 

Little  people, 
W'e  will  pass  along  to  you 
All  the  work  we  tried  to  do. 

Little  people." 

In  Madam  Willard's  journal  of  her  last  year  we 
find  these  entries : 

"  I  am  not  I  until  that  morning  breaks. 
Not  I  until  my  consciousness  eternal  wakes." 

And  again  these  words  of  Victor  Hugo :  "  I  am  rising, 
I  know,  toward  the  skies;  the  sunshine  is  on  my 
head;  the  nearer  I  approach  the  end  the  plainer  I 
hear  around  me  the  immortal  symphonies  of  the 
worlds  which  invite  me." 

The  last  time  she  led  in  the  home  service  of  prayer 
her  faith  was  thus  expressed:  "  We  walk  out  into  the 
mystery  fearless  because  we  trust  in  Thee;  we  face 
the  great  emergency  with  our  hearts  full  of  vital 
questions  that  cannot  here  be  answered;  we  leave 
them  all  with  Thee,  knowing  that  Thou  wilt  cherish 
our  wistful  aspirations  toward  Him  who  lived  and 
has  redeemed  us.  We  would  know  many  things 
that  Thou  hast  not  revealed,  but  we  can  only  love 
and  trust  and  wait." 


184  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

/^ 
During  the  last  weeks  of  her  life  the  solar  heavenly 

look  was  ever  on  the  countenance  of  "Saint  Cour- 
ageous." Those  who  stood  closest  to  her  will  never 
forget  the  sweet  joy  and  boundless  anticipation  with 
which  she  looked  forward  to  the  hour  when  she 
would  enter  into  immortal  life.  She  and  her  daugh- 
ter Frances  talked  together  of  the  great  change  that 
was  approaching.  Without  a  single  fear  or  tear  she 
looked  forward  to  the  day  when  she  should  pass  from 
earth's  twilight  into  heaven's  morn  and  meet  again 
those  whom  she  had  "loved  and  lost  awhile,"  lending 
them  to  God.  In  one  of  those  hours  her  daughter's 
belief  as  to  the  problem  "Does  death  end  all?" 
was  thus  stated : 

"Suppose  a  man  should  build  a  ship  and  freight 
it  with  the  rarest  works  of  art,  and  in  the  very  build- 
ing and  the  freighting  should  plan  to  convey  the 
ship  out  into  midocean  and  there  scuttle  it  with  all 
its  contents !  And  here  is  the  human  body,  in  itself 
an  admirable  piece  of  mechanism,  the  most  delicate 
and  wonderful  of  which  we  know;  it  is  like  a  splen- 
did ship,  but  its  cargo  incomparably  outruns  the 
value  of  itself,  for  it  is  made  up  of  love,  hope, 
veneration,  imagination,  and  all  the  largess  of  man's 
unconquerable  mind.  Why  should  its  Maker 
scuttle  such  a  ship  with  such  a  freightage?  He 
who  believes  that  this  is  done  is  capable  of  a  credul- 
ity that  far  outruns  the  compass  of  our  faith.   Death 


A  GREAT  MOTHER  185 

cannot  be  an  evil,  for  it  is  universal.  It  must  be 
good  to  those  that  do  good  because  it  crowns  man's 
evolution  on  the  planet  earth.  'Lord,  we  can  trust 
Thee  for  our  holy  dead.'  " 

If  for  Mother  Willard  the  years  had  been  full  of 
storm  and  tumult,  these  contrasts  and  adversities 
had  also  been  full  of  culture.  Unconsciously  she  was 
herself  the  fulfillment  of  the  thought  of  one  of  her 
favorite  authors:  "The  most  beautiful  thing  that 
lives  on  this  earth  is  not  the  child  in  the  cradle, 
sweet  as  it  is.  It  is  not  ample  enough.  It  has  not 
had  history  enough.  It  is  all  prophecy.  Let  me 
see  one  who  has  walked  through  life;  let  me  see  a 
great  nature  that  has  gone  through  sorrow,  through 
fire,  through  the  flood,  through  the  thunder  of  life's 
battle,  ripening,  sweetening,  enlarging,  and  growing 
finer  and  finer  and  gentler  and  gentler,  that  fineness 
and  gentleness  being  the  result  of  great  strength  and 
great  knowledge  accumulated  through  a  long  life  — 
let  me  see  such  a  one  stand  at  the  end  of  life,  as  the 
sun  stands  on  a  summer  afternoon  just  before  it  goes 
down.  Is  there  anything  on  earth  so  beautiful  as 
a  rich,  ripe,  large,  growing,  and  glorious  Christian 
heart?    No,  there  is  nothing." 

It  was  the  going  from  life  of  such  a  mother  that 
made  earth  empty  and  the  heart  of  the  daughter 
forever  bereaved.  Ever  after,  her  spirit  drooped;  a 
part  of  Miss  Willard 's  deeper  spiritual  self  reached 


186  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

out  toward  that  universe  to  which  from  the  moment 
of  her  mother's  departure  she  felt  she  too  belonged. 
In  her  journal  we  find  the  ever-recurring  eloquent 
question,  "Where  is  my  mother?"  A  question  that 
was  to  persistently  reiterate  itself  until,  like  a  tired 
child,  she  had  been  restored  to  her  mother's  arms. 
Not  otherwise  than  Monica  and  Saint  Augustine 
did  these  two,  "Saint  Courageous  "  and  her  daughter 
Frances,  sit  in  the  open  window  and  gaze  into  the 
open  sky  into  which  the  mother  was  soon  to  take 
her  flight;  they  saw  the  heavens  open  and  those 
who  once  had  dwelt  within  their  home,  standing  by 
the  throne  of  God.  If  in  the  supreme  hour  of 
entrance  upon  the  life  with  God  the  mother  ascend- 
ing sent  benediction  down  upon  her  daughter  and 
upon  all  the  world,  the  daughter,  gazing  into  the 
open  sky,  cried  out,  "I  give  thee  joy,  my  mother! 
All  hail,  but  not  farewell.  Our  faces  are  set  the 
same  way,  blessed  mother.  I  shall  follow  after — 
it  will  not  be  long." 


CHAPTER  XII 
IN  THE  MOTHER  COUNTRY 

"The  many  make  the  huuschold. 
But  only  one  the  home." 

In  tlie  sunset  years  of  her  mother's  Hfe  Miss 
Willard  had  centralized  her  work  in  the  beloved 
home,  now  adorned  by  countless  kindnesses  of  com- 
rades and  friends.  Picturing  the  busy  hours  in  the 
cozy  "den"  when,  shut  in  with  that  serene  and 
benignant  being  "Saint  Courageous,"  Miss  Willard 
was  lifted  above  her  former  toilsome  life,  we  are  re- 
minded of  her  journal  note,  written  when,  as  a  young 
teacher  in  Kankakee,  she  mused  on  the  home  faces 
of  her  "Four": 

"I  thank  God  for  my  mother  as  for  no  other  gift 
of  His  bestowing.  My  nature  is  so  woven  into  hers 
that  I  almost  think  it  would  be  death  for  me  to  have 
the  bond  severed  and  one  so  much  myself  gone  over 
the  river.  She  does  not  know,  they  do  not  any  of 
them,  the  'Four,'  how  much  my  mother  is  to  me, 
for,  as  I  verily  believe,  I  cling  to  her  more  than  ever 
did  any  other  of  her  children.  Perhaps  because  I  am 
to  need  her  more." 

Surely,  she  who  could  bear  and  train  such  a  daugh- 
187 


188  FRANXES   E.  WILLARD 

ter  was  worthy  to  be  what  she  always  remained  — 
her  inspiration  and  her  ideal.  Now  that  Frances 
WiLlard  was  motherless.  Rest  Cottage  only  "a  dumb 
dwelling/'  hmidreds  of  loyal  hearts  and  lovely  homes 
longed  to  shelter  and  console  her,  but  God  had  open- 
ed an  English  home,  a  gracious,  queenly  heart,  and 
the  last  six  years  of  Miss  Willard's  life  were  to  be 
equally  di\*ided  between  the  mother  country  and  the 
home  land.  The  origin  of  this  notable  friendship, 
which  was  to  mean  much  to  both  women  personally 
as  well  as  to  the  cause  they  represented  and  to 
womanhood  in  England  and  America,  is  thus  de- 
scribed in  Lady  Henry  Somerset's  own  words: 

It  was  on  a  rainy  Sunday  some  twelve  years  ago 
that  I  went  down,  as  I  was  wont  to  do  when  alone  at 
Eastnor  Castle,  to  have  tea  with  my  capable  and 
faithful  housekeeper.  We  often  spent  an  hour  or 
two  on  Sunday  afternoons  discussing  the  affairs  of 
the  village  and  the  wants  of  the  tenants,  among 
whom  she  conducted  mothers'  meetings  and  kept 
the  accounts  of  the  women's  savings  clubs.  I  saw 
on  her  table  that  day  a  little  blue  book,  and,  taking 
it  up,  read  for  the  first  time  the  title,  "Nineteen 
Beautiful  Years."  Sitting  down  bj^  the  fire,  I  soon 
became  so  engrossed  in  reading  that  my  housekeeper 
could  get  no  further  response  from  me  that  day,  nor 
did  I  move  from  my  place  until  I  had  finished  the 
Httle  volume. 

To  me  it  was  an  idyl  of  home  life  —  fresh,  peace- 
ful, and  tender — while  its  culmination  in  the  passing 


IN  THE   MOTHER   COUNTRY        189 

of  that  pure  soul  was  a  revelation  of  childlike  faith 
that  left  me ' '  nearer  heaven. ' '  The  name  of  Frances 
Willard  was  but  a  vague  outline  in  my  mind  until 
that  day.  The  temperance  reform  was  only  then 
beginning  to  unfold  its  lessons,  and  I  was  in  the 
infant  class  of  its  great  world  school;  but  from  the 
hour  I  read  the  tribute  that  this  broken-hearted  girl 
of  twenty-two  had  laid  in  tears  and  loneliness  upon 
her  sister 's  grave,  I  felt  the  spell  of  that  personality 
which  has  meant  so  much  to  women  the  world  over. 
The  simplicity,  the  quaint  candor,  and  the  delicate 
touches  of  humor  and  pathos  with  which  the  book 
abounds,  brought  into  living  relief  the  character  of 
one  who  has  since  become  so  nearly  allied  to  me  in 
our  mutual  w'ork  for  the  home  and  for  humanity. 
Who  of  us  can  tell  the  unseen  influences  that  guide 
the  lives  of  those  who  stand  in  the  forefront  of  the 
battle,  and  who  may  know  the  counsels  that  deter- 
mine when  those  bound  in  heart  shall  clasp  hands  in 
high  endeavor?  Perhaps  it  was  the  gentle  angel 
who,  watching  over  the  destinies  of  her  loved  sister, 
sealed  the  friendship  that  unites  in  so  close  a  bond 
the  great  band  of  women  in  two  continents  who 
"wage  their  peaceful  war  for  God,  and  home  and 
every  land." 

The  late  Mrs.  Hannah  Whitall  Smith,  author  of 
"The  Christian's  Secret  of  a  Happy  Life,"  seems 
to  have  been  the  connecting  link  between  Lady 
Henry  Somerset  and  the  British  Women's  Temper- 
ance Association.  They  had  never  met  when  Mrs. 
Smith  went  to  Ledbury,  the  seat  of  Eastnor  Castle, 


190  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

to  give  a  series  of  Bible  readings.  Lady  Henry 
attended  the  meetings  and  invited  her  to  her  home. 
Here  they  communed  concerning  the  things  of  the 
kingdom,  and  after  Mrs.  Smith's  return  to  London, 
as  she  sat  with  the  committee  that  was  discussing 
the  diflScult  question  of  a  president  of  the  British 
Women's  Temperance  Association,  to  succeed  Mrs. 
Margaret  Bright  Lucas  (sister  of  John  Bright),  there 
came  to  her  the  conviction  that  Lady  Henry  Somer- 
set was  the  God-ordained  woman  for  the  place. 
When  the  Association  met  in  annual  council  a  few 
weeks  later,  her  ladyship  was  unanimously  elected, 
and  in  response  to  a  telegram  came  to  the  conven- 
tion and  accepted  the  honors  conferred  upon  her. 

Miss  Willard,  whose  vision  embraced  the  English 
speaking  world  as  her  field,  presaged  at  once  the 
progressive  spirit  that  this  valiant  and  exceptionally 
equipped  president  of  the  British  Women 's  Temper- 
ance Association  was  to  bring  to  the  white-ribbon 
cause.  From  that  hour  the  desire  of  these  leaders 
to  meet  was  mutual,  and  the  centripetal  impulse  of 
a  first  World's  Convention  in  1891  brought  to- 
gether the  two  who  were  already  one  in  the  new 
concept  of  Christ 's  Gospel  in  action. 

America,  New  England  and  Boston  (where  the 
meeting  was  held)  first  did  honor  to  the  noble  English 
guest,  so  distinguished  in  all  the  progressive  philan- 
thropy of  her  own  country.     After  the  convention 


IN  THE   MOTHER  COUNTRY        191 

Lady  Henry  Somerset  went  west  to  the  prairies  of 
Illinois,  and  in  Rest  Cottage  received  the  benediction 
of  "Saint  Courageous,"  who  "farther  on,"  as  she 
saw  the  lights  in  her  Heavenly  Father's  Home, 
tenderly  said,  "  My  English  daughter  has  lighted  up 
the  whole  world  for  me  in  her  affection  for  my  child." 

In  August,  1892,  three  weeks  after  Miss  Willard 
lost  the  earthly  presence  of  her  mother,  she  sailed 
for  England  to  be  met  by  sympathy,  thoughtful- 
ness,  a  sustaining  love  and  care  which  were  to  help 
prolong  her  own  heroic  and  compassionate  life. 
"The  tears  would  just  well  up,"  she  writes  from 
Eastnor  Castle  in  the  first  weeks  of  her  grief.  This 
heart  that  had  brooded  over  the  sorrows  of  so  many 
was  realizing  the  supreme  experience  of  the  daily 
longing  for  the  most  intimate  of  her  life's  compan- 
ionships. 

On  the  first  birthday  anniversary  without  her 
mother,  September  28,  1892,  the  British  Women's 
Temperance  Association,  through  Lady  Henry,  sent 
an  offering  of  flowers  and  this  testimonial : 

To  Frances  E.  Willard,  President  of  the  World's 
Woman 's  Christian  Temperance  Union : 

Beloved  President:  The  sadness  that  en- 
shrouds your  coming  to  our  country  forbids  any 
demonstration  of  national  welcome;  yours  is  a  loss 
in  which  each  of  us  has  a  share;  with  you  we  mourn 
a  mother  who  by  a  long  life  of  courage  and  a  triumph- 


192  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

ant  entry  into  Eternity   has   taught   us  that  it  is 
always  better  "farther  on." 

We  cannot,  however,  refrain  on  this,  the  anni- 
versary of  your  birth,  tenderly  to  wish  you  many 
years  rich  and  full  of  useful  labor.  In  approaching 
you  with  our  congratulations  it  is  on  no  common- 
place errand  of  courtesy  that  we  come,  nor  do  our 
good  wishes  spring  solely  from  our  love  and  grati- 
tude. We  lay  this  tribute  in  your  hands  because 
from  you  we  have  received  the  message  of  women 's 
greatness;  because,  looking  back  on  the  story  of  the 
past,  we  see  none  other  to  whom  her  fellow-women 
should  confess  so  large  a  debt;  because  we  know  that 
life  and  strength  to  you  will  ever  mean  priceless  and 
unflinching  toil  in  the  cause  which  seeks  to  bring 
humanity  nearer  its  divine  ideal.  Your  great  heart, 
which  knows  no  limitations  of  creed,  class,  or  nation, 
but  beats  only  with  the  pulsations  of  humanity,  has 
thrown  out  the  life  line  of  the  white  ribbon,  and  to- 
day it  girds  the  world,  fit  emblem  of  the  white  light 
of  truth  that  called  it  into  radiant  existence.  You 
have  stood  for  the  forces  which  level  up  and  not 
down ;  your  life  shall  chant  itself  in  its  own  beatitudes 
after  your  own  life's  service,  for  you  have  under- 
stood the  divine  motherhood  that  has  made  the  world 
your  family. 

In  another  of  Miss  Willard's  letters  we  have  the 
picture  of  the  tranquil  days  passed  at  Eastnor 
Castle  in  retirement  and  work  for  the  annual  con- 
vention at  home.  .  .  .  "We  are  keeping  very 
quiet  here  at  the  Castle,  seeing  no  one.     We  are  re- 


IN  THE   MOTHER  COUNTRY        193 

ceiving  shoals  of  letters  that  come  to  us  from  all 
parts  of  the  Kingdom  as  well  as  from  'Home,  sweet 
home.'  .  .  .  For  myself,  I  am  not  very  vigorous, 
but  am  grinding  away  at  my  annual  address,  though 
with  but  little  enthusiasm  since  mother  is  not  here." 
Two  months  later  Miss  Willard  was  again  on 
American  soil  in  attendance  upon  the  National 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  Convention 
of  1892  at  Denver,  Colorado,  where  a  memorial 
service  for  her  mother  welded  anew  the  hearts  of 
her  loyal  constituents.  Lady  Henry  accompanied 
her  guest.  Miss  Willard  returning  with  her  to  Eng- 
land in  November.  The  succeeding  weeks,  which 
were  filled  with  public  work,  were  marked  by  a  great 
welcome  meeting  at  Exeter  Hall  in  honor  of  the 
Founder  and  President  of  the  World's  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union.  Lady  Henry  Somer- 
set, as  vice-president  of  this  organization  and  hostess 
of  Miss  Willard,  had  issued  invitations  far  and  wide, 
calling  upon  all,  irrespective  of  creed  or  sex,  to  come 
and  do  honor  to  her  beloved  friend,  and  in  response 
a  remarkable  gathering  assembled.  Five  thousand 
people  united  in  this  welcome;  not  only  leaders  of 
the  principal  English  humanitarian  organizations 
of  the  day,  members  of  Parliament  and  London 
County  Councilors,  but  a  homogeneous  company 
of  representatives  of  missions,  leagues,  unions,  socie- 
ties and  guilds,  over  fifty  of  these  groups  being  rep  re- 


194  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

sented.  Miss  Willard  was  greeted  with  an  ovation, 
the  "audience  and  platform  rising  en  masses  waving 
handkerchiefs,  and  giving  three  British  cheers  in  a 
manner  which,  with  all  their  enthusiasm,  no  Ameri- 
can audience  has  as  yet  mastered,  for  it  takes  the 
burly  form  and  the  broad  chest  of  John  Bull  to  cheer 
in  the  lusty  fashion  of  our  Saxon  and  Viking  ances- 
try." Lady  Henry  presided,  and  in  an  eloquent 
address  of  welcome  presented  the  woman  and  the 
work  they  had  gathered  to  honor.     She  said: 

It  is  fitting  that  this  historic  hall  should  have 
been  chosen  as  the  scene  of  a  welcome  to  one  who 
deserves  above  all  other  titles  that  of  reformer. 
Wherever  the  temperance  cause  has  a  champion, 
wherever  the  cause  of  social  purity  has  an  exponent, 
wherever  the  labor  movement  lifts  up  its  voice, 
wherever  woman  with  the  sunlight  of  the  glad  new 
day  upon  her  face  stretches  forth  her  hands  to  God, 
there  is  the  name  of  Frances  Willard  loved,  cher- 
ished, and  revered.  Tried  by  a  jury  of  her  peers — 
even  amid  the  clashing  opinions  of  this  transition 
age  where  the  old  is  unwilling  to  die,  and  the  new 
seems  hardly  ready  to  be  born  —  there  would  still 
come  the  verdict,  she  is  a  fair  opponent,  she  is  a  kind- 
ly comrade;  she  has  firmness  in  the  right  as  God  gives 
her  to  see  the  right,  and  moves  along  her  chosen 
path  as  Lincoln  said,  "with  malice  toward  none  and 
charity  for  all."  From  that  more  august  and  perhaps 
impartial  jury,  beyond  the  circle  of  reform,  comes 
the  verdict  prophetic  of  that  which  history  shall  one 


IN  THE   MOTHER  COUNTRY        195 

day  record  —  she  made  the  world  wider  for  women 
and  happier  for  humanity. 

We  know  that  America  owes  her  greatness  to 
the  sterHng  worth  of  those  intrepid  Puritan  pioneers 
who  were  the  best  gift  of  the  Old  World  to  the  New; 
so  Frances  Willard,  who  has  in  her  veins  that  pure 
New  England  blood,  owes  to  her  ancestry  much  of 
the  strength  and  courage  that  must  ever  be  the  basis 
of  a  reformer's  character. 

If  no  other  work  had  been  accomplished,  one 
of  the  greatest  achievements  of  Frances  Willard 's 
life  has  been  her  mission  of  reconciliation  to  the 
women  of  the  South  while  yet  the  scars  of  war 
throbbed  in  their  breasts,  and  new-made  graves 
stretched  wide  between  sections  that  had  learned 
the  misery  of  hatred.  It  was  the  white  ribbon 
taken  by  her  tender  hands  that  bound  these  wounds 
and  gently  drew  the  noble-hearted  women  of  that 
simny  land  into  the  hospitable  home  circle  of  the 
Woman 's  Christian  Temperance  Union. 

"Sacrifice  is  the  foundation  of  all  real  success," 
and  it  was  a  crucial  moment  in  INIiss  Willard 's  life 
when  she  deliberately  relinquished  the  brilliant 
position  of  dean  of  the  first  woman's  college  con- 
nected with  a  university  in  America,  to  go  out  penni- 
less, alone,  and  unheralded,  because  her  spirit  had 
caught  the  rhythm  of  the  women's  footsteps  as  they 
bridged  the  distance  between  the  home  and  the 
saloon  in  the  Pentecostal  days  of  the  temperance 
crusade.  She  has  relinquished  that  which  women 
hold  the  dearest  —  the  sacred,  sheltered  life  of 
home.  For  her  no  children  wait  around  the  Christ- 
mas hearth,  but  she  has  lost  that  life  only  to  find  it 


196  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

again  ten  thousand  fold.  She  has  understood  the 
mystery  of  the  wider  circle  of  love  and  loyalty,  and 
the  world  is  her  home  as  truly  as  it  was  John 
Wesley's  "parish."  She  has  understood  the  divine 
motherhood  that  claims  the  orphaned  hearts  of 
humanity  for  her  heritage,  and  a  chorus  of  children 's 
voices  around  the  world  hail  her  as  mother,  for 
organized  mother-love  is  the  best  definition  of  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union. 

"Live  and  take  comfort;  thou  wilt  leave  behind 
Powers  that  will  work  for  thee  — 
Air,  earth,  and  skies. 
There's  not  a  breathing  of  the  common  wind 
That  will  forget  thee;  thou  hast  great  allies; 
Thy  friends  are  exultations,  agonies. 
And  love  and  man's  unconquerable  mind." 

In  honor  of  such  a  guest  we  have  gathered  our 
choicest  flowers  of  rhetoric  and  birds  of  song,  for  it 
is  good  and  true  to  pour  out  the  fragrance  of  our 
affection  and  our  praise,  and  place  our  tribute  in  the 
warm  clasp  of  living  hands  rather  than  lay  it  on  the 
cold  marble  of  the  tomb. 

Before  resuming  her  seat  the  chairman  called 
upon  the  Rev.  Canon  Wilberforce  to  give  the  first 
greeting  to  Miss  Willard,  because  he  knew  something 
of  the  work  she  has  accomplished  and  his  visit  to 
America  had  given  him  an  insight  into  the  power 
and  strength  of  women's  work  there.  Canon 
Wilberforce  then  dashed  into  an  earnest  temperance 
appeal  and  offered  Miss  Willard  a  hearty  welcome 


IN  THE   MOTHER  COUNTRY        197 

in  the  name  of  the  Church  of  England  temperance 
reformers. 

The  crowd  driven  back  from  the  doors  had  flock- 
ed down  the  staircase  and  filled  to  overflowing  a 
small  hall  capable  of  holding  some  fifteen  hundred 
people.  Here  the  eloquent  Canon,  followed  quick- 
ly by  Madame  Antoinette  Stirling,  retired  to  keep 
them  in  patience  until  Miss  Willard  and  Lady  Henry 
Somerset  had  completed  their  duties  upstairs. 

After  nearly  a  score  of  welcome  speeches,  at  half- 
past  nine  Miss  Willard  rose,  and  in  swift,  generous 
utterance  responded  to  the  sincere  British  enthu- 
siasm expressed  in  genial  phrases.  "The  English," 
she  said,  "as  individuals  are  reticent,  but  as  an 
audience  they  bloom  at  you  like  a  garden  bed."  In 
the  glow  of  this  sympathy  her  sensitive  spirit  was 
at  once  at  home,  and  she  took  into  her  heart  for  aye 
her  English  audiences. 

I  do  not  know%  she  said,  that  I  was  ever  more 
pleased  than  I  am  to-night  that  I  can  trace  my  un- 
diluted ancestry  back  nine  generations  to  an  honest 
yeoman  of  Kent.  "Brave  hearts  from  Severn  and 
from  Clyde  and  from  the  banks  of  Shannon,"  I  come 
to  you  from  the  Mississippi  valley,  and  in  that 
"whispering  corn"  of  which  my  beloved  friend  and 
our  great  leader  has  spoken,  I  used  to  sit  on  my  little 
four-legged  wooden  cricket,  hidden  away  that  no- 
body should  know,  reading  out  of  poets  and  philos- 
ophers things  that  caused  me  to  believe  more  than 


198  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

I  knew,  and  I  do  it  yet.  I  do  not  know  that  prohibi- 
tion will  capture  old  England,  and  salt  it  down  with 
the  "inviolate  sea"  as  a  boundary — but  I  believe 
it  will.  I  do  not  know  that  the  strong  hand  of  labor 
will  ever  grasp  the  helm  of  state  —  but  I  believe  it 
will.  I  do  not  know  that  the  double  standard  in  the 
habitudes  of  life  for  men  and  women  will  be  ex- 
changed for  a  white  life  for  two  on  the  part  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  —  but  I  believe  it  will.  I  do  not 
know  that  women  will  bless  and  brighten  every 
place  they  enter,  and  that  they  will  enter  every 
place  —  but  I  believe  they  will.  The  welcome  of 
their  presence  and  their  power  is  to  be  the  touch- 
stone. 


On  a  green  hill  far  away  was  the  great  scene  of 
history  where,  on  a  wide-armed  cross,  was  lifted  up 
that  Figure  whose  radiant  love,  shining  out  through 
all  the  generations  since,  has  brought  you  and  me 
together;  given  us  our  blessed  temperance  reform; 
is  lifting  labor  to  its  throne  of  power;  has  made  men 
so  mild  that  they  are  willing  to  let  women  share  the 
world  along  with  them.  And  that  reminds  me  that 
I  wanted  to  speak  a  word  about  the  gentle  Czar. 
Have  you  ever  heard  of  him  —  the  gentle  Czar? 
This  one  of  whom  I  speak  had  at  one  time  absolute 
power.  He  dwelt  in  his  own  world,  woman  was  his 
vassal;  she  could  not  help  herself,  and  had  not  wit 
enough  perhaps  to  want  to  do  so.  But  behold,  the 
Czar  said:  "Since  woman  has  a  brain,  it  is  God's 
token  that  she  should  sit  down  with  her  brother  at 
the  banquet  of  Minerva."  So  you  invited  us  to 
school  and  then  we  came  tripping  along  like  singing 


IN  THE  MOTHER  COUNTRY        199 

birds  after  a  thunderstorm.  No  vote  except  that 
of  this  hydra-headed  Czar  ever  opened  a  school  for 
women  to  get  their  brains  nurtured  and  cultured. 
I  read  that  in  Edinburgh  (which  classic  city  I  hope 
to  visit  in  a  week  or  two),  the  trustees  had  by  order 
of  this  Czar,  invited  women  to  join  the  College  of 
Arts,  and  instead  of  the  young  men  being  crusty 
about  it  they  were  received  with  loud  huzzas.  In 
my  own  country,  in  some  of  the  states  and  towns, 
the  women  have  the  municipal  ballot;  they  have  it 
under  restriction  in  England.  Who  gave  it  to  them? 
The  gentle  Czar.  The  barons  at  Runnymede  had 
to  force  their  charter  from  King  John,  but  the  bar- 
onesses of  this  age  have  but  to  say:  "Would  not 
you  like  to  come  and  help  us.'^"  and  the  gentle  Czar 
extends  his  scepter,  when  lo!  the  doors  are  opened 
wide.  So  I  have  no  quarrel  with  men,  and  I  have 
two  reasons  for  thinking  that  they  have  been  full 
of  wisdom  in  letting  us  into  the  kingdom,  for  we 
want  a  fair  division  of  the  world  into  two  equal  parts. 
Please  take  notice,  an  undivided  half  is  what  the 
women  want;  they  do  not  want  to  go  off  and  set  up 
for  themselves  and  take  their  half,  but  to  let  it  re- 
main for  evermore  an  undivided  half.  I  believe  men 
have  let  us  into  the  kingdom  because  they  have  had 
six  thousand  years  of  experience,  and  consider  them- 
selves tolerably  capable  of  taking  care  of  number 
one.  In  the  second  place,  I  think  that  they  are  well 
assured  in  their  own  spirits  that  nobody  living  is 
quite  so  interested  to  do  them  justice,  and  to  look 
after  them  in  a  very  motherly  way  as  these  very 
women  folk!  There  is  but  one  great  river  of  blood, 
one  great  battery  of  brain  —  our  interests  are  for- 


200  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

ever  indivisible,  for  every  woman  that  I  ever  knew 
was  some  man 's  daughter  and  every  man  I  ever  saw 
was  some  woman's  son,  and  most  of  the  men  that 
I  have  been  associated  with  in  Christian  work  were 
"mother's  boys."  That  is  the  best  kind  of  a  boy, 
whether  he  belongs  to  the  children  of  a  greater 
growth  or  whether  he  is  still  in  the  bewildered  period 
of  the  first  and  second  decades. 


Some  people  have  said  that  the  Do  Everything 
policy  is  a  *'scatteration"  policy;  but  I  am  willing  to 
sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish  under  the 
working  of  the  Do  Everything  policy.  By  this  we 
mean  what  they  did  at  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne  — 
"Whenever  you  see  a  head  hit  it."  Wherever  the 
liquor  traflBc  is  intrenched,  there  put  in  an  appearance 
and  send  out  the  ammunition  of  your  Gatling  gun 
rattling  its  fires  along  the  entire  field.  That  has 
been  our  method  from  the  beginning.  The  liquor 
traffic  is  intrenched  in  the  customs  of  society  —  go 
out  after  it,  then,  with  the  pledge  of  total  ab- 
stinence for  others'  sake.  The  liquor  traffic  is  pro- 
tected by  the  people 's  ignorance  —  go  after  it  into 
the  Sunday  schools  and  public  schools  with  a  "Thus 
saith  Nature,  thus  saith  Reason,  thus  said  the  Lord." 
The  liquor  traffic  is  safeguarded  by  the  law  —  go 
after  it  into  legislature  and  parliament,  and  give 
them  no  rest  for  the  soles  of  their  feet  till  they  give 
you  better  law  than  you  have  yet  achieved.  But 
laws  are  made  by  men,  not  by  abstractions,  and 
men  are  elected  by  parties.  Then  do  not  be  the 
least  afraid,  but  go  out  among  the  parties  and  see 
which  of  them  will  take  up  your  cause  and  then  stick 


IN  THE   MOTHER  COUNTRY        201 

to  that  one.  Parties  are  built  up  from  units  of 
humanity,  and  they  need  a  stronger  contingent  of 
moral  power.  Let  us,  then,  bring  that  contingent 
to  the  front ;  bring  up  the  home  guards  and  add  them 
to  the  armj'.  There  are  two  serpents,  intemperance 
and  impurity,  that  have  inclosed  and  are  struggling 
with  the  infant  Hercules  of  Christian  civilization. 
Let  us  strike  at  both,  for  purity  and  total  ab- 
stinence must  go  together;  the  two  must  rise  or  fall 
together;  and  when  we  find  that  the  Siamese  twins 
of  civilization  are  purity  and  total  abstinence,  when 
we  find  that  we  must  foster  both,  or  each  will  die, 
then  we  shall  have  widened  our  cause  as  God  wants 
to  see  it  widened. 

Alcoholized  brains  are  like  colored  glass.  We 
cannot  transmit  the  light  of  the  truth  unless  we  are 
under  the  power  of  that  holy  habit,  sobriety.  May 
every  home  that  you  love  be  the  home  of  peace;  may 
every  life  that  you  cherish  escape  the  curse  of  drink; 
may  every  child  that  you  left  to-night  when  coming 
to  this  meeting  grow  up  sweet  and  pure  and  true. 
May  every  man  that  has  lent  to  us  his  attention  at 
this  hour  belong  to  the  great  army  of  the  gentle 
Czar  w^ho  is  willing  to  welcome  women  even  to  the 
throne  room  of  government. 

"Strike,  till  the  last  armed  foe  expires! 
Strike  for  your  altars  and  your  fires ! 
Strike  for  the  green  graves  of  your  sires — 
God  and  your  native  land!" 

Quaint,  humorous,  reminiscent,  and  prophetic, Miss 
Willard,  with  womanly  tenderness,  took  her  listeners 
back  into  her  sacred  home  life,  pregnant  with  asso- 


202  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

ciation  and  inspiration,  and,  with  statesmanlike 
vigor,  out  into  the  universal  life  of  human  need  and 
aspiration.  Again  and  again  she  was  encouraged 
by  the  applause  of  her  sympathetic  audience. 
Lady  Henry  Somerset  then  addressed  Miss  Wil- 
lard,  saying: 

We  cannot  detain  you  to  listen  to  all  the 
telegrams  from  individuals  and  from  the  branches 
of  the  British  Women's  Temperance  Association 
by  which  Old  England  greets  New  England's 
daughter.  Three  hundred  branches  of  the  British 
Women's  Temperance  Association  have  sent  greet- 
ings; every  post  has  brought  their  loyal  welcome, 
and  the  names  are  recorded  upon  this  testi- 
monial which  the  British  women  gladly  present 
to  you.  This  beautiful  banner  has  been  embroider- 
ed by  the  loyal  hands  of  British  women,  and  we  beg 
your  acceptance  of  it  that  it  may  grace  the  plat- 
forms of  America  and  remind  you  there  of  your  Eng- 
lish sisters. 

The  Exeter  Hall  meeting,  reported  well  by  the 
London  Times  and  the  Daily  News,  awoke  England 
from  Ramsgate  to  the  Isle  of  the  Dogs,  and  count- 
less invitations  poured  in  urging  Miss  Willard  to 
meet  great  audiences  and  illustrious  statesmen. 
The  cities  of  England  seemed  to  unite  in  the  request 
that  she  should  visit  each  of  them.  It  would  be  but 
a  repetition  of  occasions  similar  to  that  of  Exeter 
Hall  if  we  were  to  follow  her  from  city  to  city,  as 


IN  THE   MOTHER  COUNTRY        203 

she  was  welcomed  at  great  meetings  and  enthu- 
siastic receptions.  Already  the  physicians  who  had 
been  consulted  in  regard  to  her  physical  condition 
insisted  that  absolute  rest  was  imperative  for  the 
restoration  of  her  strength,  and  slowly  there  was 
wrought  in  the  quiet  and  beauty  of  Lady  Henry's 
own  home  a  marvelous  change.  Beautiful  and 
invigorating  days  were  spent  in  Switzerland  in  the 
Engardine.  The  air  and  altitude  were  a  delight 
to  Miss  Willard's  spirit  and  brought  with  each  day 
increased  buoyancy  of  mind  and  body. 

During  the  World's  Fair  in  1893,  Lady  Henry 
Somerset  came  to  America,  assuming  hea\'y  bur- 
dens connected  with  the  World's  and  National 
Conventions  in  Chicago,  in  order  that  Miss  Willard 
might  recuperate  in  the  restfulness  of  retired  Eng- 
lish life.  The  iVmerican  leader  was  meanwhile  the 
guest  of  Mrs.  Hannah  Whitall  Smith  at  Haslemere. 

In  the  months  following,  as  her  strength  increased. 
Miss  Willard  not  only  helped  the  World 's  work  and 
notably  the  British  branch,  but  kept  in  close  touch 
with  the  work  at  home,  and  with  Lady  Henry 
Somerset  did  a  vast  amount  of  public  speaking  in 
England  and  Scotland. 

The  public  demonstrations  which  greeted  Miss 
Willard  on  her  return  to  America  proved  that  her 
own  home  country,  as  well  as  lands  over  the  sea, 
delighted  to  do  her  honor.     In  one  of  New  York's 


204  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

largest  churches  a  welcome  meeting  was  held  in 
June,  1894,  the  great  auditorium  being  all  too  small 
to  hold  the  thousands  who  wanted  to  greet  person- 
ally the  beloved  leader.  How  the  great  audience 
cheered  her!  How  the  cheers  joyfully  broke  out 
again  as  anxious,  questioning  eyes  saw  that  the  pale 
cheeks  had  rounded  out,  that  the  weary  lines  had 
disappeared,  that  the  golden-brown  hair  still  kept 
its  youthful  tints  —  that  the  long  absence  was 
justified !  Notable  reform  speakers  uttered  eloquent 
words  of  greeting.  Letters  and  telegrams  had  been 
received  from  every  state  in  the  Union.  Of  the 
telegrams  which  were  read,  was  one  from  Doctor 
Bashford  of  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  announcing 
that  the  college  had  that  day  conferred  upon  Miss 
Willard  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

A  few  words  have  been  selected  from  Miss  Wil- 
lard's  response: 

As  you  sing  '*Home,  Sweet  Home,"  I  seem  to  look 
up  into  my  mother's  dear  face  and  hear  her  sing 
it  to  a  nervous  little  girl.  Mother's  gone,  brother 
and  sister  have  passed  away.  I  am  the  last  one  left, 
but  I  am  not  lonely,  for  these  are  my  folks,  this  is 
my  home.  .  .  .  But  this  loving  greeting  is  not 
a  personal  tribute.  These  kind  words  and  kinder 
deeds  are  not  invidious  to  woman.  Some  say  that 
we  women  are  a  mutual  admiration  society;  well, 
better  so  than  carping  critics  of  each  other.  But  it 
is  not  fair  to  have  so  much  praise.     I  am  but  the 


IN  THE   MOTHER  COUNTRY        205 

buoy  kept  up  by  the  ever-heaving  sea,  the  wind- 
mill showing  the  course  of  the  wind.  Sea  and  wind 
are  the  capable,  self-sacrificing  rank  and  file  of  the 
white-ribbon  army.  All  this  tribute  should  be  for 
them ;  it  is  for  them. 

At  the  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  Convention  in  Boston,  in  1880,  Miss  "Willard 
was  greatly  surprised  and  deeply  touched  when  Miss 
Mary  A.  Lathbury,  whose  happy  suggestion  in- 
spired the  generous  gift,  presented  to  Miss  Willard, 
on  behalf  of  the  Twilight  Park  Association,  the  deed 
to  a  tract  of  land  in  Twilight  Park,  The  Catskills. 
A  small  bequest  to  Miss  Willard  from  a  relative  made 
possible,  a  few  years  later,  the  building  of  the  cottage 
which  Miss  Willard  named  "Eagle's  Nest"  in  mem- 
ory of  her  eyrie  in  the  old  tree  at  Forest  Home. 
\Miite-ribboners  furnished  the  pretty  cottage,  and 
for  a  few  weeks  one  halcyon  summer  Miss  Willard 
enjoyed  the  lovely,  secluded  spot  with  its  wondrous 
outlook  and  its  sense  of  peace. 

Miss  Willard 's  fiftieth  birthday,  September  28, 
1889,  occurred  during  one  of  her  rare  visits  in  her 
Evanston  home.  Gifts,  letters,  and  telegrams  came 
pouring  into  Rest  Cottage  all  day.  In  the  afternoon 
a  delightful  Harvest  Home  Festival  was  celebrated 
in  the  First  Methodist  Church,  by  the  Loyal  Tem- 
perance Legion,  numbering  nearly  two  hundred. 
In  the  evening  a  dinner  was  given  by  Woman's 


206  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

Christian  Temperance  Union  comrades  who  resided 
in  the  other  half  of  the  twin  cottage.  Later  the 
mother  and  daughter  enjoyed  a  surprise  in  "Evans- 
ton's  Testimonial  to  Frances  E.  Willard,"  given  at 
the  home  church.  The  First  Methodist.  All  hearts 
were  thrilled  at  the  sight  of  the  Loyal  Temperance 
Legion  marching,  a  bannered  host,  to  the  altar, 
where  they  sang  the  opening  song.  Mr.  H.  H.  C. 
Miller,  Mayor  of  Evanston,  presided.  Addresses 
were  made  in  behalf  of  the  churches,  the  University, 
the  Woman's  Club,  and  the  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union.  Congratulatory  letters  and 
telegrams  were  read,  and  resolutions  were  adopted, 
recognizing  the  "unselfish  devotion  and  tireless 
energy  of  Frances  E.  Willard  in  every  good  work,'' 
and  tendering  the  hearty  congratulations  of  Evans- 
ton  citizens  upon  her  fiftieth  anniversary.  Miss 
Willard 's  reply  was  characteristically  full  of  happy 
turns  of  thought  and  deep  touches  of  pathos. 

In  the  early  morning  of  September  28,  1891,  her 
fifty-second  birthday,  Miss  Willard  stood  with  her 
mother  at  the  window  of  the  "  den  "  in  Rest  Cottage, 
and  watched  the  burning  of  the  barn  built  by  her 
father  a  quarter  of  a  century  before.  Writing  of 
the  event,  she  thus  philosophizes:  "Whatever 
burns,  let  it  burn,  \^^len  your  barn  goes  you  have 
still  yourself,  and  should  your  house  go  still  you  have 
yourself,  and  when  your  body  goes  in  death's  com- 


IN   THE   MOTHER  COUNTRY        207 

bustion,  still  and  evermore  you  have  yourself  and 
are  housed  from  first  to  last  in  God  and  his  enfold- 
ing, warming,  vitalizing  love." 

Near  the  spot  where  the  barn  had  stood  was 
built  a  cairn.  The  inception  and  growth  of  that 
most  interesting  "witness  heap"  can  best  be  de- 
scribed in  Miss  Willard  's  own  words : 

For  years  I  have  been  wishing  that  we  could 
make  the  little  home  more  of  a  souvenir  to  all  who 
come  than  it  has  ever  been.  I  wanted  trees,  vines, 
plants,  and  flowers  from  homes  that  people  love,  and 
I  had  already  carried  not  a  few  slips,  sprigs,  and 
seeds  from  those  that  have  sheltered  my  wanderings. 
But  a  cairn  that  should  commemorate  the  eight 
hundred  delegates  and  friends  who  came  to  call  on 
mother  from  the  Chicago  convention  had  been 
much  in  my  mind,  and  to  that  as  a  nucleus  could  be 
added  "no  end"  of  the  pretty  stones  that  most  of 
us  begin  gathering  in  childhood,  and  of  which  we 
have  at  least  a  score  before  we  reach  a  score  of  years. 
Knowing  this,  my  "gentle  Anna"  decided  to  se- 
cure these  souvenirs  as  a  birthday  surprise,  and 
sending  out  five  hundred  postals  on  September  1st, 
she  had  by  the  28th  received  specimens  from  every 
state  and  territory,  including  Alaska,  every  prov- 
ince of  Canada  and  all  along  shore.  A  more  unique, 
varied,  eloquent  collection  one  would  look  long  to 
find.  God's  crystallized  flowers  are  here;  His 
thoughts  in  forms  and  colors  that  predict  the  new 
Jerusalem.  Besides  these  fittest  survivals  of  the 
mineral  kingdom,  there  are  stones  of  the  field,  the 


208  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

forest,  and  the  stream;  historic  emblems;  speci- 
mens of  every  state's  best  yield  in  rocks;  and  sacred 
little  pebbles  that  loved  hands  had  gathered  and 
rosy,  childish  fingers  touched  before  they  grew  white 
in  the  steady  clasp  of  death.  Then  the  letters,  the 
poems  and  telegrams,  are  a  mine  of  jewels  more 
flashing  than  any  that  wealth  or  beauty  ever  wore. 
They  gleam  with  faith  in  our  most  holy  cause;  they 
glisten  with  purpose  undaunted ;  they  glow  with  love 
undying.  The  symbolism  of  this  tremendous  "  ston- 
ing" is  brought  out  most  ingeniously  in  sentences 
scintillating  as  the  crystals  they  accompany.  It 
seems  as  if  no  Bible  reference  is  overlooked  —  and 
we  all  know  how  rich  these  are  —  and  applications 
found  to  the  holy  work  of  the  hour  by  which  Christ's 
bride  shall  be  adorned  for  His  coming  in  the  new 
republic  of  God  around  which  all  our  work  and 
prayers  concenter  like  the  crystals  of  a  rose-quartz 
geode. 

In  this  very  town,  nearly  thirty-four  years  ago, 
I  studied  Dana's  Mineralogy,  and  with  test-tube 
and  blowpipe  interviewed  the  royal  family  of  the 
stone  world  and  many  of  its  great  mellow-hued  or 
dull-toned  commonalty.  But  how  little  did  I  dream 
that  the  "cabinet"  coveted  so  earnestly  by  our 
class  as  one  of  the  best  gifts,  would  come  to  me  at 
last,  along  the  lines  of  a  thousand  friendships  that 
have  blossomed  brighter  than  gems,  from  the  vital 
root  of  a  great  home-cause.  These  tokens,  one  and 
all,  are  not  looked  upon  as  mine  —  indeed,  each  day 
the  sense  of  personal  possession,  once  so  strong,  falls 
steadily  away  from  me  —  but  are  lovingly  held  in 
trust  for  the  great  and  growing  family  of  the  white- 


IN  THE   MOTHER  COUNTRY        209 

ribboners  to  whom  belong  all  that  we  of  Rest  Cottage 
have  and  are. 

Stones  from  all  over  the  world  were  contributed. 
Many  of  these  were  of  too  great  value  to  be  a  part 
of  the  cairn  on  the  lawn,  and  they  were  given  place 
within  the  Cottage.  Most  interesting  reading  is 
the  book  in  the  "den"  in  which  the  names  of  all 
donors  are  inscribed,  with  mention  of  many  of  the 
notable  stones.  Upon  the  cover  are  these  words: 
"Rest  Cottage  Cairn.  Established  Sept.  28,  1891. 
Genesis  31:44-49." 


CHAPTER  XIII 
BRITISH  ORGANIZATIONS  AND   INSTITUTIONS 

During  Miss  Willard's  sojourn  in  England  the 
suggestive  and  instructive  points  in  the  organi- 
zations and  institutions  of  that  country,  especially 
their  expression  in  woman's  life  and  work,  vitally 
interested  her.  As  the  guest  of  Lady  Henry 
Somerset,  opportunities  to  study  their  promin- 
ent phases  and  characteristics  were  many  and 
varied.  To  attend  political  conventions  in  which 
men  and  women  were  equally  interested,  was  to 
her  a  novel  experience.  English  methods  of  elec- 
tion were  an  absorbing  study,  but  the  most  inspiring 
phenomenon  was  the  place  of  prominence  given  to 
women  in  political  life. 

With  great  stirring  of  spirit  she  thus  describes  a 
convention  of  the  Woman's  Liberal  Federation: 

Nowhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth  have  women 
organized  with  so  much  strength,  skill,  and  devotion 
to  forward  beneficent  political  movements  as  in  the 
mother  country.  Seventy-five  thousand  of  them 
are  banded  in  the  Woman's  Liberal  Federation  for 
the  purpose  of  advancing  the  interest  of  that  great 
party  which  has  for  many  years  been  "casting  up 

210 


BRITISH   ORGANIZATIONS  211 

the  highway"  of  euiiinci])utlon  by  which  England 
shall  pass  over  into  the  promised  land  of  liberty, 
equality,  fraternity.  Mrs.  Gladstone  has  been  from 
the  first  president  of  this  organization,  and  as  an 
educator  for  women  it  has  no  rival  in  the  island;  for 
successes,  and  failures,  too,  are  teaching  the  women 
that  only  when  great  causes  are  incarnated  in  politics 
and  parties  do  they  command  the  public  mind  and 
crystallize  into  those  better  laws  that  bring  a  sec- 
tion of  the  "organized  millennium"  equally  to  each 
and  to  all. 

No  one,  save  duly  elected  delegates  from  the 
local  societies  and  accredited  representatives  of  the 
press,  is  allowed  to  be  present  at  the  annual  meetings 
of  the  Woman's  Liberal  Federation,  Fortunately 
for  me,  I  was  chosen  a  delegate  by  the  women  of  New- 
port, Wales,  and  though  under  orders  not  to  speak, 
I  could  hardly  do  less  than  move  the  resolution, 
intrusted  to  me  by  them,  condemning  the  placing  of 
any  further  restrictions  on  the  work  of  women  until 
the  opinion  of  the  women  themselves  has  been  ascer- 
tained in  each  case.  Physically  it  was  an  ordeal  to 
be  present  as  a  spectator  in  meetings  of  such  moment- 
ous interest,  but  it  was  the  chance  of  a  lifetime.  I 
had  prepared  for  it  by  several  w^eeks  of  quiet  living 
in  the  country,  and  I  hope  soon  to  recuperate  from 
the  fatigue,  while  the  memory  will  remain  with  me 
an  unfailing  fount  of  inspiration. 

To  some  of  us,  w'ho  believe  in  the  great  educa- 
tional power  of  what  may  be  called  the  aesthetic  side 
of  a  movement,  it  would  seem  to  be  an  improve- 
ment if  there  were  more  in  the  outward  form  that 
appealed  to  the   imagination   and  engraved   upon 


212  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

the  heart  great  battle  cries  condensing  argument  and 
conviction  in  the  form  of  an  epigram. 

A  pecuUarity  of  English  conventions  (they  never 
use  that  word  here)  is  the  cut-and-dried  order  of 
business,  which  is  called  an  Agenda.  Each  resolu- 
tion, motion,  and  amendment  is  printed  in  full,  with 
the  name  of  the  person  who  advocates  it  and  the 
local  society  that  he  represents.  As  a  result  of  this 
arrangement,  there  is  very  little  occasion  for  the 
intricacies  of  parliamentary  usage,  and  there  is 
practically  no  participation  from  the  floor  of  the 
house.  The  women  who,  under  this  rule,  spoke 
at  the  "Woman's  Liberal"  (as  it  is  called  for  short) 
were  survivals  of  the  fittest,  or  rather  survivals  of 
the  best;  they  spoke  from  the  platform,  and  having 
known  for  days  or  weeks  that  they  were  to  do  so, 
brought  excellent  preparation,  and  in  almost  no 
case  was  any  manuscript  to  be  seen.  They  were,  as 
a  rule,  well  heard,  and  what  they  said  was  full  of 
practical  good  sense,  often  brightened  by  humor. 
There  were  the  usual  complaints  in  the  rear  of  the 
hall  that  "nobody  could  hear  a  word;  nobody  could 
hear  what  was  going  on;  speak  louder;  there  is  too 
much  whispering  on  the  platform,  as  well  as  on  the 
floor."  In  the  midst  of  these  mildly  murmured 
criticisms  the  new  president.  Lady  Aberdeen,  smiled 
graciously,  and  evidently  held  the  confidence  and 
good-will  of  the  assembly.  She  used  no  gavel,  but 
rang  a  little  bell  from  time  to  time  to  bring  the  dele- 
gates to  order;  they  were,  however,  remarkably 
decorous,  and  all  the  arrangements  combined  to 
make  them  so,  the  popular  character  of  the  meeting 
being  its  least  emphatic  feature. 


BRITISH  ORGANIZATIONS  213 

While  there  are  advantages  in  the  strong  hand  of 
officiaHsm  and  the  sway  of  committeeism  (both  so 
dominant  in  all  public  affairs  on  this  side  of  the 
water),  I  question  if  the  greater  spontaneity  of 
individual  initiative,  which  is  the  ruling  factor  in 
our  American  conventions,  is  not  an  advantage  of 
still  greater  value  in  that  development  of  character 
and  intellectual  acumen  on  which,  in  the  last  anal- 
ysis, the  success  of  associated  effort  must  depend. 

Without  a  dissenting  vote  the  ballot  for  women 
was  indorsed  as  one  of  the  objects  of  the  "Woman's 
Liberal,"  to  be  included  in  its  constitution.  This 
decision  created  more  enthusiasm  than  any  other 
subject  that  came  before  the  council.  Home  Rule 
was  adopted  as  a  matter  of  course  without  dissent; 
the  same  is  true  of  the  Liquor  Traffic  Local  Control 
Bill;  the  Sunday  closing  of  public  houses;  closing 
during  polling  hours  for  all  elections,  parliamentary 
or  local;  and  the  council  "earnestly  desired  that  a 
law  should  be  passed  giving  all  the  adult  inhabitants 
of  each  locality  the  complete  control  of  the  liquor 
traffic."  This  resolution  was  moved  by  Lady  Henry 
Somerset  in  a  brief  but  effective  speech,  and  seconded 
by  Mrs.  Hugh  Price  Hughes.  The  Welsh  Local 
Veto  Bill  was  also  unanimously  indorsed.  It  was 
decided  by  unanimous  vote  that  married  women 
should  stand  on  the  same  ground  as  spinsters  and 
widows  in  the  suffrage  bill,  and  that  while  English 
women  have  already  a  municipal  vote  {i.  e.,  rate- 
payers who  are  spinsters  or  widows),  they  ought, 
without  distinction  of  class,  to  have  not  only  the 
municipal  but  the  parliamentary  franchise,  on  pre- 
cisely the  same  basis  as  men. 


214  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

The  bill  to  establish  parish  councils,  whereby 
local  legislation  shall  be  taken  from  the  hands  of 
squires  and  parsons  and  given  to  the  people,  was 
warmly  indorsed,  and  it  was  declared  that  this  bill 
should  make  it  perfectly  clear  that  women  are  equal- 
ly eligible  with  men  to  elect  and  be  elected,  not  only 
in  parish  councils,  but  in  district  and  county  councils. 

A  resolution  in  its  favor  was  indorsed  without 
dissent;  indeed,  every  legal  disability  of  women 
seemed  to  be  passed  upon  and  declared  against  with 
practical  unanimity.  Eight  resolutions,  each  of 
them  covering  some  important  phase  of  the  Liberal 
movement  as  it  relates  to  women,  were  adopted  with 
enthusiasm. 

The  Salvation  Army  with  its  militant  leaders 
attracted  Miss  Willard,  and  she  gives  this  account  of 
"General  Booth  in  Action": 

On  March  27,  1893,  in  a  Union  church  —  which 
I  suppose  means  a  Congregational  in  London  — 
spacious  and  on  the  amphitheatre  plan,  I  first  saw 
and  heard  the  man  whom  I  have  long  been  wont  to 
call  the  "old  war  eagle"  of  the  Salvation  Army.  It 
was  eleven  o  'clock  on  a  bright  spring  morning  when 
we  entered,  and  the  church  was  nearly  full.  A 
brass  band  was  stationed  at  the  right  of  the  pulpit, 
and  the  bonnets  of  the  sisterhood  were  a  marked 
feature,  not  only  on  the  platform,  where  one  of  the 
General 's  daughters  was  seated,  but  throughout  the 
audience,  while  the  Garibaldi  shirts  of  the  brother- 
hood lighted  up  the  scene  on  every  hand.  One  of 
the  officers,  who  has  a  bassoon  voice,  was  singing 
as  we  entered,  and  this  was  the  refrain,  "He  saves  to 


BRITISH  ORGANIZATIONS  215 

the  uttermost";  his  voice  was  mellow  and  immense. 
The  General  put  an  arm  over  the  huge  shoulders  of 
the  singer  and  said,  "You  shan't  sing  it  unless  you 
mean  it,"  upon  which  the  gentle  giant  smiled,  nodded 
his  shaggy  head,  and  all  the  people  shouted  "Amen !" 

Having  been  escorted  to  the  platform  by  one  of 
the  officers,  I  had  a  good  opportunity  to  study  the 
leader.  He  is,  I  should  think,  over  six  feet  in  height, 
and  has  an  "off-hand"  manner  in  the  presence  of  an 
audience,  such  as  he  probably  used  when  disporting 
himself  at  home  with  his  children  in  earlier  days. 
He  has  a  remarkably  fine,  large  head,  well  poised; 
keen,  dark-brown  ej^cs;  an  eagle  beak  like  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  and  a  long  gray  beard,  worthy  of 
St.  Jerome.  He  has  a  fine,  delicately-made  hand, 
with  the  wedding  ring  on  his  finger  that  reminds  one 
of  that  great  woman  —  "the  mother"  of  the  Salva- 
tion Army.  In  her  going  the  light  of  this  world 
went  out  from  the  life  of  this  great  leader,  for  no 
two  were  ever  more  devotedly  attached.  He  walks 
up  and  down  the  platform;  advances  with  the  Bible 
extended  in  both  hands;  pounds  the  pulpit;  thrusts 
his  hands  through  his  abundant  dark  locks,  now 
turning  to  gray;  and  gestures  with  his  shoulders  as 
well  as  head  and  hands.  He  was  talking  to  the 
officers,  who  had  assembled  to  celebrate  what  was 
announced  as  a  "day  with  God,"  which  means  a  day 
given  up  to  the  endeavor  to  realize  more  thoroughly 
the  personal  relations  of  the  Salvation  soldier  to  the 
Captain  of  the  salvation  of  us  all. 

It  was  a  moving  scene,  as  rough  men  came  for- 
ward crying  to  the  altar,  women  with  their  little 
children,  girls  with  worn,  wan  faces,  which  told  of 


216  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

harder  lives  than  they  ought  ever  to  have  known. 
"Thirty -four  are  in  the  Gospel  net!"  called  out  one 
of  the  brethren,  going  down  among  them  to  help, 
and  we  noticed  that  men  talked  with  men,  women 
with  women;  there  was  no  exception  to  this  rule, 
which  seems  worthy  of  imitation  in  all  revival  meet- 
ings. Among  those  who  superintended  this  solemn 
altar  service  was  a  grandniece  of  Sir  Fowell  Buxton, 
the  anti-slavery  reformer,  and  a  cousin  of  Elizabeth 
Fry. 

"You  want  white  robes,"  cried  out  the  General. 
"They  are  not  the  fashion  now;  they're  scarce  down 
here;  the  smoke  of  London  seems  to  soil  them,  but 
they  will  be  the  fashion  yonder,  and  God  will  help 
us  carry  them  white  and  clean  into  the  promised 
land." 

It  was  a  scene  that  recalled  the  old-time  camp 
meetings  in  the  far  West.  It  had  all  their  simplicity 
of  heart,  earnestness,  and  devotion.  Again  and 
again  the  band  led  the  great  assembly  as  it  sang, 
"He  saves  to  the  uttermost."  The  effect  was  in- 
describable, and  moved  to  tears  eyes  not  used  to 
weeping — the  pure  faces  of  the  Salvation  women  as 
they  knelt  beside  the  hapless,  friendless  young  girls 
who  came  forward,  the  brotherly  tones  of  the  men 
as  they  knelt  beside  the  horny-handed,  hard-faced 
offenders,  who  were  crying  for  deliverance.  And 
while  they  prayed,  the  General  turned  to  Lady 
Henry  Somerset  and  me,  and  showed  us  a  handful 
of  stub  pipes  already  given  up  by  the  men,  and  said: 
"We  get  these,  and  lots  of  whisky  flasks,  too,  and  so 
we  work  for  temperance." 

A  cultivated   woman   handed   me   these   words, 


BRITISH  ORGANIZATIONS  217 

hastily  written,  as  she  looked  on  the  scene  I  have 
described:  "In  spite  of  all  criticisms,  and  after  all 
is  done  and  said,  I  always  ask  myself,  What  other 
organization  brings  the  people  out  of  the  abysses  of 
sin  better  than  the  Salvation  Army?  I  have  seen 
it  in  nearly  all  countries  of  the  world,  and  it  stops 
my  mouth  when  I  hear  something  said  of  the  Salva- 
tionists which  may  be  true  or  not,  for  the  one  thing 
needful  always  remains,  that  the  Salvation  Army 
men  and  women  are  at  it,  all  at  it,  and  always  at  it 
to  save  the  world." 

One  thing  I  know,  that  this  weary  scribe  went 
out  thence  with  tearful  eyes  and  a  more  mellow  mind, 
singing  in  tones  unheard  except  in  heaven: 

"  Take  my  poor  heart  and  let  it  be 
Forever  closed  to  all  but  Thee." 

Doubtless  this  did  not  come  to  pass,  but  I  drew 
a  hair's  breadth  "Nearer,  my  God, to  Thee,"  because 
of  that  strange  morning  with  the  "old  war  eagle" 
and  his  devoted  brood. 

Nearer  to  Miss  Willard  's  heart  than  either  of  these 
nineteenth  century  movements  was  Lady  Henry 
Somerset's  cherished  enterprise,  the  Duxhurst 
Industrial  Farm  Home.  Miss  Willard 's  lifeHke 
description  reveals  to  us  how  at  one  she  ever  was 
with  everything  that  meant  help  to  those  who 
thought  themselves  forgotten: 

To  one  who  looks  below  the  surface,  there  is 
untold  pathos  in  the  group  of  pretty  gray  cottages 
that  cluster  in  the  edge  of  the  trees,  which,  with  the 


218  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

children's  "Nest"  near  by,  the  chapel  and  hospital, 
the  Manor  House  and  Hope  House,  make  up  a  veri- 
table village  among  the  pleasant  hills  of  Surrey, 
for  on  this  spot  center  the  affection  and  honest  hard 
work  of  the  "British  Women"  and  their  leader,  who 
have  set  themselves  by  God's  help  to  give  to  Eng- 
land its  most  gracious  object  lesson  in  the  cure  of 
inebriety.  But  the  real  pathos  of  their  holy  endea- 
vor is  in  the  fact  that  they  are  working  for  mothers, 
for  wives,  and  for  little  children  —  the  three  classes 
of  human  beings  in  whom  center  the  most  of  tender 
thought  and  sacred  love,  and  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
alone  renders  such  an  institution  possible.  "Neither 
do  I  condemn  thee;  go  in  peace,  and  sin  no  more," 
is  the  word  of  life  He  spoke,  and  it  applies  not  to  one 
sin,  but  to  all. 

Hence  it  was  fitting  that  the  central  building  of 
this  significant  group  should  be  a  church,  and  that 
its  dedication  should  be  the  first  public  exercise 
engaged  in  by  the  members  and  friends  of  our  farm 
colony,  and  it  was  fitting  that  the  clergyman 
should  be  Canon  Wilberforce,  of  Westminster,  whose 
name  suggests  the  devotion  of  generations  to  "what- 
soever things  are  pure"  and  good,  and  whose  life- 
long loyalty  to  the  cause  of  temperance  and  his 
later  declarations  in  favor  of  the  cause  of  women 
mark  him  as  the  champion  in  the  English  Church 
of  those  reforms  whereby  the  Christian  religion 
incarnates  itself  in  custom  and  in  law.  It  was  fitting, 
too,  that  the  twentieth  annual  meeting  of  the  Brit- 
ish Woman's  Temperance  Association  should  have 
this  dedication  as  its  first  service.  Lady  Henry 
Somerset,  who  has  been  from  the  first  the  presiding 


BRITISH   ORGANIZATIONS  219 

genius  of  the  enterprise,  arranged  the  j)lan,  the  de- 
tails of  which  were  filled  in  by  her  devoted  and 
capable  associates.  The  Executive  Committee  came 
down  from  London  witli  other  invited  guests.  The 
girls  of  St.  Mary's  Home  and  the  children  of  the 
"Guild  of  the  Poor  Things,"  with  the  cottage  pa- 
tients, furnished  the  music.  Tea  was  served  in  a  large 
marquee  on  the  grounds,  and  the  committee  had 
several  hours  in  which  to  go  over  the  village,  most 
of  them  never  having  visited  it  until  to-day.  When 
the  dedication  was  over,  tea  was  served  in  Lady 
Henry's  room,  where  Lady  Katharine  Somerset, 
Canon  Wilberforce,  his  wife  and  daughter,  Mrs. 
Pearsall-Smith,  and  Miss  Agnes  Weston  were  the 
principal  guests. 

That  so  much  had  been  accomplished  in  so  brief 
a  space  was  a  delightful  surprise  and  the  general 
theme  of  congratulation.  No  enterprise  was  ever 
more  nobly  served  than  this  one  has  been  from  the 
first,  but  among  the  capable  and  faithful  workers  it 
will  not  be  deemed  invidious  to  mention  the  Sister 
Superintendent,  a  woman  who  is  a  born  leader  and 
organizer  of  forces  on  a  large  scale;  Sister  Kathleen, 
who  is  a  very  Madonna  to  the  homeless  little  ones 
in  the  Nest;  and  Miss  Smith,  the  lady  gardener, 
whose  patient  skill  is  working  out  a  lovely  frame  of 
greensward,  flowers,  and  vines  for  the  picture  made 
by  these  charming  cottages. 

The  church  is  modeled  after  one  at  Engelberg, 
Switzerland,  which  had  attracted  Lady  Henry 
Somerset's  attention  when  sojourning  there,  and  of 
which  she  brought  away  a  photograph;  but  the 
coloring,  like  that  of  the  interior  of  all  the  cottages, 


220  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

is  according  to  a  scheme  of  her  own,  the  theory  be- 
ing that  strong  masses  of  color  help  to  make  the 
walls  attractive.  The  rafters  of  the  church  are 
painted  a  dull  geranium  red,  and  round  the  string- 
course on  a  gold  band  the  Lord's  Prayer  encircles 
the  building,  being  so  arranged  as  to  bring  the  words 
"Our  Father"  directly  above  the  altar. 

The  walls  are  gray -blue;  at  the  east  end  they  are 
covered  with  a  beautiful  design  painted  on  canvas, 
while  the  hangings  are  all  rare  embroidery  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  ornaments  of  the  chapel 
were  given  by  Adeline,  Duchess  of  Bedford.  Yester- 
day the  east  end  was  beautifully  decorated  with 
lilies,  palms,  and  white  hydrangeas,  while  the  altar 
was  wreathed  with  roses  and  large  standard  lilies, 
all  from  the  gardens  of  Reigate  Priory. 

Canon  Wilberforce  had  prepared  a  service  that 
was  especially  appropriate  and  tender,  in  the  carry- 
ing out  of  which  he  was  assisted  by  Rev.  Aston  L. 
Whitlock,  rector  of  the  parish  and  one  of  the  most 
helpful  friends  of  the  enterprise.  The  address  of 
Canon  Wilberforce  was  characterized  by  the  well- 
known  spiritual  elevation  of  thought  and  vigor  of 
utterance  that  places  him  in  the  forefront  of  English 
pulpit  orators.  He  made  the  spiritual  the  basis  of 
physical  health,  and  said  that  it  had  been  proved  in 
recent  scientific  investigations  that  the  sun's  rays 
will  kill  out  every  form  of  microbe  and  bacillus. 
Even  so  the  Divine  beams  of  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness, shining  into  the  human  heart,  will  kill  out  the 
germs  of  every  evil  appetite. 

At  the  close  a  touching  procession  came  down 
the  aisle,  the  little  crippled  and  blind  boys  whom 


BRITISH  ORGANIZATIONS  221 

Sister  Kathleen  and  Sister  Grace  are  caring  for  at 
the  Children's  Nest  —  to  which  Countess  Soiners, 
mother  of  Lady  Henry  Somerset,  has  so  largely 
contributed  —  that  halcyon  home  of  happy  outings 
for  little  people  from  the  London  slums.  They 
carried  the  Union  Jack  and  the  flag  of  their  "Guild 
of  the  Poor  Things"  (suggested  by  that  pitiful  story 
of  Mrs.  Juliana  Horatio  Ewing,  entitled  "The  Story 
of  a  Short  Life"),  and  it  bore  the  legend, 

"  The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war, 
A  kingly  crown  to  gain; 
His  blood-red  banner  streams  afar: 
Who  follows  in  His  train?" 

This  is  the  chosen  song  of  the  guild,  and  there 
were  tears  in  all  eyes  as  the  little  fellows  sang  their 
hymn  of  conquest,  all  the  verses  of  which  they  knew 
by  heart.  They  have  been  taught  that  their 
crutches  if  used  in  the  right  spirit  and  in  the  Master's 
sight,  are  swords  of  victory,  and  this  is  their  motto, 
which  they  repeat  in  cheery  voices:  ^^ Happy  is  my 
lot."  It  was  a  tender  climax  to  the  hallowed  ser- 
vice, this  song  from  the  loyal  little  hearts  that  know 
what  suffering  means  and  how  to  overcome  it  "In 
His  Name." 

As  the  audience  came  out  to  the  pretty  portico, 
there  stood  Lady  Henry  Somerset,  who  has  con- 
secrated such  devoted  toil  and  generous  gifts  to  the 
enterprise,  holding  in  both  hands  a  big  brass  plate, 
and  looking  into  every  face,  her  smiling  glance  seem- 
ing to  say,  "And  now  concerning  the  collection." 
Many  gold  coins  were  left  in  her  care,  and  Mrs.  M., 
whose  great  heart  makes  her  gifts  for  good  continu- 


222  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

ous,  left  a  scrap  of  paper  on  which  were  penciled 
the  words,  "In  gratitude  for  the  dedication  services; 
a  hundred  pounds  more  from  E.  L.  M." 

And  when  it  was  all  over,  as  I  stood  watching 
the  long  procession  of  brakes,  filled  by  those  noble 
women  of  the  executive  committee  who  are  the 
special  co-workers  of  Lady  Henry ;  as  I  saw  the  little 
crippled  fellows  in  their  crimson  blouses,  shouting 
"Three  cheers  for  Canon  Wilberforce"  (who  as  his 
carriage  swept  past  lifted  his  hat  to  them  with  as 
much  deference  as  if  they  had  been  "the  Queen's 
Own");  as  I  saw  the  women,  who  are  the  objects  of 
so  much  loving  thought,  going  quietly  to  their  peace- 
ful cottages,  and  the  gentle  Sisters  in  uniform,  who 
have  them  in  their  care,  I  wondered  if  there  was  in 
all  this  great  and  powerful  England  a  spot  of  ground 
dearer  to  God  than  that  on  which  the  Farm  Home 
Colony  has  raised  its  sacred  walls. 

In  connection  with  the  same  Convention,  a  gala- 
day  for  the  delegates  was  the  reception  and  garden 
fete  at  Reigate  Priory,  one  of  Lady  Henry  Somer- 
set's charming  country   homes.     We  quote  from 

The  Union  Signal: 

The  quaint  and  beautiful  English  village  was 
stormed  by  white-ribboners,  whose  processional 
advent  along  the  leafy,  peaceful  streets  was  looked 
upon  with  interest  by  the  inhabitants  of  Lady 
Henry's  quiet  retiring  place.  Two  long  excursion 
trains  had  rapidly  borne  the  happy  host  out  from 
the  city,  and  to  the  delegates,  worn  somewhat  with 
constant   attendance   at   the   great   meetings   and 


BRITISH  ORGANIZATIONS  223 

interludes  of  sightseeing,  the  sweet  country  air  and 
genial  sunshine  of  the  perfect  June  day  were  as  nec- 
tar to  a  thirsty  spirit. 

The  long  line  of  women,  with  here  and  there  a 
favored  man,  proceeded  along  the  village  streets, 
past  the  familiar  "Cottage"  (recognized  at  once  by 
many),  and  through  the  gates  to  the  Priory,  whose 
long,  low,  simple  outlines  gave  little  indication  of 
the  wealth  and  beauty  within.  At  the  door  of  the 
great  hall,  Lady  Henry  Somerset  graciously  made  all 
feel  at  home,  and  just  inside  the  first  entrance  Miss 
Willard,  with  a  happy  and  pertinent  word  for  each, 
received  the  guests,  whose  number  was  nearly  one 
thousand.  The  fine  mansion  was  thrown  open  to 
the  visitors,  who  soon  invaded  every  corner  —  the 
perfectly  decorated,  pale  green  silk-hung  drawing- 
room;  the  library  in  white  and  gold,  with  its  hundreds 
of  rare  volumes;  the  dining-room,  with  its  dark 
wainscotings  and  handsome  red  tapestry  hangings; 
the  dainty  reception  room,  and  others  rich  in  rare 
furniture,  portraits,  armor,  and  bric-a-brac.  But 
the  chief  points  of  interest  were  the  "dens''  —  Miss 
Willard 's,  with  its  artistic  furnishings,  at  once  rec- 
ognized by  "mother's"  picture  over  the  mantel  and 
the  familiar  traveling  handbag  with  its  initials,  "F. 
E.  W.,"  lying  upon  the  desk;  and  Lady  Henry's 
room,  which  appeared  very  thought-inviting.  The 
familiar  face  of  the  beloved  Quaker  poet  looked 
down  upon  the  temperance  workers  of  many  lands 
who  peeped  into  this  sanctum  of  the  reform  leader. 

Out  upon  the  lawn  and  in  the  garden  the  scene 
was  a  festive  one.  Under  a  magnificent  willow  tree 
a   band    (appropriately   of   women)    played   lively 


224  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

melodies.  At  the  long  tables  beneath  the  canvas 
tent  and  at  many  smaller  tables  near,  the  guests 
were  being  served  in  true  English  fashion.  It  was 
a  social,  friendly  company,  for  no  other  introduction 
was  needed  than  the  significant  knot  of  white. 
Armenian  and  Scandinavian,  Indian  and  South 
African,  German,  Swedish,  and  French  delegates 
mingled  with  those  of  English-speaking  countries 
in  unhedged  social  converse,  giving  the  gathering  a 
real  cosmopolitan  character.  Of  course,  with  such 
a  company  speechmaking  could  not  be  omitted,  so 
a  platform  was  improvised,  and  those  who  could 
get  within  hearing  distance  doubtless  heard  much 
that  was  witty  and  wise.  The  occasion  was  honored 
by  the  presence  of  the  Countess  Somers,  Lady 
Henry 's  mother,  vydng  with  her  daughter  in  youth- 
ful looks.  Countess  Somers  is  greatly  interested 
in  the  reform  work  of  her  noble  daughter,  reading 
The  Union  Signal,  and  following  the  progress  of  the 
great  reform. 

So  much  had  the  weather,  the  occasion,  and  the 
surroundings  delighted  the  happy  guests  that  it  was 
with  regret  they  heard  the  sweet  bells  of  the  Priory 
clock  announce  the  hour  of  departure.  It  will  be 
long  before  the  tourists  "forget  that  day  in  June" 
which  took  them  into  the  sunshine  of  Lady  Henry 
Somerset 's  lavish  hospitality. 

But  this  workaday  world  of  speaking,  writing, 
and  sociological  sympathies  was  irradiated  by 
charming  recreation,  excursions  to  historic  places, 
short  visits  to  the  seaside,  and  rare  glimpses  of  de- 


BRITISH   ORGANIZATIONS  225 

Hghtful  English  homes.  We  know  how  congenial 
to  Miss  Willard  was  the  touch  of  spirits  akin  to  her 
own  on  an  intellectual  plane,  and  she  has  told  us 
in  her  own  incisive  way  of  her  love  of  the  companion- 
ship of  the  wise  and  good: 

If  I  were  to  ask  of  every  person  I  met  the  ques- 
tion of  all  others  pertaining  to  this  world  that  I 
would  like  to  ask,  it  would  be  this:  Who  and  how 
many  among  the  great  characters  of  our  time  have 
you  personally  known,  and  what  can  you  tell  me 
about  them? I  confess  that  every- 
thing about  elect  souls  has  a  personal  interest  for 
me;  their  letters  I  preserve;  their  pictures,  in  simple 
heliotype,  fresco  my  walls;  their  photographs  crowd 
my  ever-growing  "collections";  their  autographs  are 
sedulously  cherished,  and  every  word,  allusion,  or 
anecdote  which  brings  them  out  into  clearer  perspec- 
tive is  of  zestful  interest  always.  For  I  think  there 
is  much  in  the  theory  of  an  "aura"  surrounding  every 
one  of  them,  the  veiled  effluence  of  the  spiritual 
body,  perhaps,  by  which  something  of  absolute 
personality  goes  with  the  handwriting  and  passes 
into  the  photographed  face.  This  may  be  wholly 
fanciful,  but  it  is  a  most  pleasant  fancy  to  me  and 
peoples  my  little  room  with  presences  noble,  gracious, 
and  inspiring. 

First  among  the  personalities  toward  whom  Miss 
Willard  was  drawn  in  England  was  Her  Majesty 
the  Queen.  She  gives  us  this  picture  of  the  true  and 
noble  woman,  who  is  first  in  the  hearts  of  all  Eng- 


FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

lish-speaking  people,  as  she  saw  her  in  London  at  the 
opening  of  the  Imperial  Institute: 

We  were  on  hand  at  ten  o'clock  although  we 
knew  the  Queen  would  not  arrive  until  after  noon. 
The  grandstands  with  their  thirty  thousand  occu- 
pants were  filled  a  little  after  ten.  Opera  glass  in 
hand,  we  watched  the  gradual  rally  of  what  is  tech- 
nically known  in  these  parts  as  "the  aristocracy," 
preceded  by  their  gorgeously  attired  guardians  and 
variegated  flunkies.  The  cheering  is  but  slight  as 
many  great  ones  come,  for  the  waiting  thousands 
are  all  watching  for  the  Queen.  Punctuality  is  the 
politeness  of  royalty,  and  though  famous  for  this 
quality,  and  promised  to  the  crowd  at  fifteen  minutes 
after  twelve,  such  is  the  throng  through  which  she 
has  to  pass,  that  the  Queen  does  not  arrive  till  half- 
past  twelve. 

"Is  it  not  curious,"  remarks  an  American  white- 
ribboner  whose  field-glass  is  faithfully  directed  to- 
ward the  distance  whence  the  Queen  is  to  emerge, 
"that  I  can  be  thinking  of  all  this  pageantry,  the 
like  of  which  I  never  saw  before  and  shall  not  see 
again,  and  yet  away  down  in  my  heart  I  am  ob- 
serving 'the  noontide  hour'  of  the  white-ribboners?" 

"So  am  I,"  was  the  response,  and  no  more  is  said 
till  the  flash  of  spears  is  seen,  the  passing  of  half  a 
dozen  carriages  containing  the  lesser  lights  of  the 
royal  household,  and  then  a  carriage  drawn  by  six 
cream-colored  horses  from  Hanover,  each  gorgeous- 
ly caparisoned  in  red  and  gold,  the  manes  being 
entirely  covered  by  tassels  of  bright  color;  a  plump 
postillion  mounted  on  the  left-hand  horse  of  each 


BRITISH  ORGANIZATIONS  227 

pair,  besides  a  gentleman  in  scarlet  who  leads  each 
separate  horse;  two  handsome  Highlanders  in  a  hif?h 
seat  perched  up  behind;  two  fair,  attractive  young 
Englishwomen,  Princess  Christian  and  Princess 
Beatrice,  on  the  front  seat,  and  all  alone  in  the 
middle  of  the  back  seat  a  somewhat  stout,  short 
figure  dressed  in  black,  without  a  jewel,  without  a 
ribbon,  just  a  kindly,  quiet,  dignified  lady  that  any- 
body would  have  been  glad  to  call  his  mother  or  his 
grandmother.  At  a  foot  pace  the  carriage  passed, 
amid  loud  hurrahs,  while  a  bright  flag  bearing  the 
harp  of  Erin,  the  Cross  of  St.  Andrew,  and  the  Lions 
of  England  was  suddenly  flung  out  into  the  sun- 
shine from  the  top  of  the  tower,  and  bands  of  music 
played  "God  Save  the  Queen."  Victoria  and  her 
daughters  bowed  quietly  to  right  and  left,  the 
Queen  simply  inclining  her  head  with  a  most  in- 
telligent and  kindly  expression;  and  one  stalwart 
rej)ublican  from  the  New  World  looked  at  her  with 
dimmed  vision  as  she  thought  that  here  and  now 
came  to  a  focus  all  that  is  best  in  man's  achievement 
during  all  the  centuries;  and  that  a  woman  w^as  the 
chief  figure  in  all  that  gorgeous  pageantry  —  a 
woman  who  has  been  true  to  the  sacred  duties  of 
wife,  mother,  and  friend,  true  to  the  magnificent 
powers  reposed  in  her  as  Queen.. 

I  remembered  that  when  at  sixteen  years  of  age 
she  was  told  that  she  was  to  rule  over  this  mighty 
Empire,  there  was  no  exultation  in  look  or  tone,  but 
with  clasjjed  hands  she  faltered  out,  "God  help  me 
to  be  good."  I  remembered  her  tender  love  and 
loyalty  to  that  pure,  noble  man  to  whom  she  gave 
her  heart  in  early  youth,  and  that  when  asked  the 


228  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

explanation  of  England's  greatness,  she  said,  "It  is 
the  Bible  and  Christianity."  I  knew  that  England 
did  not  live  up  to  its  high  standard,  but  believed 
she  would  some  day;  and  that  this  great  reign  — 
so  rich  in  triumphs  of  literature  and  art,  in  the  spirit 
of  civilization,  in  the  uplift  of  the  people,  in  the 
emancipation  of  women  —  has  contributed  more 
than  any  other  reign  the  world  has  known  to  bring 
about  the  realization  of  universal  brotherhood.  I 
knew  that  no  human  being  on  the  globe  concentrates 
in  his  history  and  influence  so  many  thoughts;  that 
this  quiet  woman  is  the  cynosure  of  civilization; 
presidents  and  princes  come  and  go,  but  she  goes  on 
and  on  until  it  seems  as  if  her  reign  is  likely  to  be  the 
longest,  as  well  as  the  most  beneficent,  of  which 
history  makes  mention. 

We  waited  an  hour  while  the  Queen,  leaning  on 
an  ebony  cane,  disappeared  with  her  children  into 
the  great  temple  of  industry  and  achievement,  and 
we  knew  that  she  had  made  her  speech  when  the 
chime  of  bells  in  the  beautiful  tower  told  that  the 
inauguration  ceremony  was  complete.  We  knew 
that  Sir  Arthur  Sullivan  had  conducted  the  orchestra, 
that  Madame  Albani  had  led  the  audience  in  sing- 
ing "  God  Save  the  Queen";  and  that  the  chimes  were 
to  tell  us  all  of  the  joy  —  that  the  climax  had  come. 

A  few  minutes  later  the  whole  procession  passed 
us  on  its  return  to  Buckingham  Palace,  and  it  was 
a  touch  of  nature  pleasant  indeed  to  see,  when  the 
Queen 's  sons  with  their  wives  and  children  —  Wales, 
Edinburgh,  and  Connaught  with  his  blithe  young 
princess  beside  him  —  walked  along  the  pavement 
to  meet  the  carriage  of  the  Queen,  and  to  salute 


BRITISH  ORGANIZATIONS  229 

Her  Majesty,  who  smiled  on  them  with  the  simple 
kindness  of  a  mother. 

Meanwhile  the  chime  of  bells  rang  merrily,  each 
bell  named  after  one  of  the  Queen's  children,  and 
the  chime  christened  "Alexandra"  for  the  Princess 
of  Wales.  To  me  as  I  gazed  at  the  vanishing  figure 
that  was  the  center  of  all  this  pomp  and  circumstance 
and  knew  that  I  should  never  see  again  the  Queen  of 
England  and  Empress  of  India,  the  music  of  the  bells 
seemed  to  be  saying  those  matchless  words  of  Tenny- 
son: 

"The  love  of  all  thy  sons  encompass  thee. 
The  love  of  all  thy  daughters  cherish  thee. 
The  love  of  all  thy  people  comfort  thee  — 
Till  God's  love  set  thee  at  his  side  again." 


CHAPTER  XIV 
ANSWERING  ARMENIA'S  CRY 

Before  1892,  people  had  known  but  vaguely 
that  there  was  such  a  thing  as  an  Armenian  Ques- 
tion. They  knew  that  somewhere  beyond  the 
mountains  in  Eastern  Turkey,  in  the  land  that 
looks  toward  Ararat  and  the  rising  sun,  a  war  was 
going  on  —  a  religious  war  —  in  which  those  that 
suffered  bore  the  name  of  Christians.  And  yet  the 
term  "War"  implies  the  possession  of  weapons  on 
both  sides  and  at  least  a  fighting  chance  for  the 
weaker  to  sell  life  dearly.  Here  the  weapons  were 
all  on  one  side,  the  other  having  nothing  to  oppose 
to  them  save  unmailed  breasts,  clenched  fists, 
attempted  flight,  and  hard  endurance  of  the  in- 
evitable. There  was  not  much  chance  for  even 
individual  cases  of  fierce  vengeance.  In  this  terrible 
plight  were  men,  women,  and  children.  Even  the 
unborn  babe  was  snatched  into  the  world  to  draw 
its  first  breath  in  a  shriek  of  agony,  and  die.  Turks 
were  the  aggressors,  Armenians  the  sufferers,  in 
this  strange  war,  and  thus  it  bore  something  of  the 
character  of  a  race  conflict. 

The  name  Christian  stood  for  honor  to  marriage 
230 


ANSWERING  ARMENIA'S  CRY       231 

vows  which  gave  to  Armenian  women  respect  for 
themselves  and  reverential  loyalty  to  their  husbands, 
to  Armenian  men  exceptional  uprightness  in  domes- 
tic relations,  and  if  some  bearing  the  name  of  Chris- 
tians knew  little  of  Christianity  vitally,  they  yet 
held  it  to  the  death  as  a  symbol  of  their  national 
life.  When,  in  the  fifth  century,  a  Persian  king 
tried  to  force  them  to  exchange  the  Bible  and  the 
name  Christian  for  fire  worship,  they  answered: 
"  You  have  your  sword,  and  we  have  our  necks.  We 
are  not  better  than  those  who  have  gone  before  us, 
who  gave  up  their  goods  and  their  lives  for  this 
faith." 

For  generation  after  generation  the  Armenians 
continued  a  people  apart,  oppressed,  plunder  for  the 
Turk  and  the  freebooting  mountaineer  Kurds,  who 
fed  from  their  harvests,  feasted  on  their  sheep,  and 
carried  away  their  wives  and  daughters,  while  they 
were  forbidden  the  arms  necessary  for  defense. 

No  marvel  that  the  Bible  became  a  sealed  book. 
There  were  only  Moslem  schools  to  teach  boys  to 
read  the  Koran.  When  the  American  missionaries 
first  printed  the  Bible  in  a  cheap  form  for  the  people 
and  established  schools  in  which  they  could  learn  to 
read  it,  the  common  people  "heard  the  Word  glad- 
ly," and  many  voluntarily  impoverished  them- 
selves to  the  last  degree  to  possess  a  copy  of  the 
sacred  book. 


232  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

In  time  matters  came  to  a  crisis.  The  Great 
Powers,  partly  for  reasons  of  their  own,  made 
Armenia  an  "issue."  Turkey  went  wild  with  the 
craze  of  greed  and  pride  and  domination  under  the 
name  of  religion.  The  madness  of  the  Turkish 
government  had  method  in  it.  It  was  a  good  time 
to  end  Christian  Armenia.  So  long  as  it  remained 
it  was  a  possible  menace,  and  it  was  rich  plunder. 
The  first  step  was  to  enlist  the  Kurds  in  the  Turkish 
army,  and  set  them  to  police  the  same  Armenian 
fields  which  they  had  plundered  for  three  hundred 
years.  The  victims  had  not  much  with  which  to 
resist,  but  now  and  then  the  dead  body  of  a  Kurdish 
ravisher  and  thief  caused  the  report  of  a  great  re- 
volt. Then  the  order  went  out  from  the  Sultan, 
and  forty  villages  in  their  fertile  fields  were  burned. 
Men,  women  and  children  died  with  such  bravery, 
refusing  life  at  the  price  of  apostasy,  that  the  far, 
faint  sound  of  their  martyrdom  stirred  Europe  to 
shame. 

So  they  perished  —  fifty  thousand  in  one  year  — 
helpless,  weaponless.  Massacre  after  massacre 
occurred;  men,  women,  and  children  were  penned 
together  as  prisoners  and  slaughtered.  Crops  were 
carried  off,  homes  burned,  shops  looted.  They  died 
anywhere,  everywhere,  with  additional  details  of 
tortures  too  horrible  for  words.  And  all  this  went 
on  like  a  slaughter  behind  closed  doors,  from  which 


ANSWERING  ARMENIA'S  CRY       233 

a  cry,  heard  now  and  then,  was  unnoticed,  unre- 
alized, by  the  passers-by. 

In  1896,  certain  of  the  Armenian  victims  escaped 
in  a  friendly  ship  to  Marseilles  —  with  their  lives 
and  hideous  memories,  but  maimed  forever,  bear- 
ing within  and  without  tokens  of  suffering.  Here 
was  a  young  bride  whose  husband  had  been  slaugh- 
tered in  the  night,  and  the  pieces  of  his  body  piled 
at  her  feet;  here  a  man  whose  aged  father  had  been 
sought  out  in  his  own  home  and  slain;  here  an  old 
woman,  with  a  fine,  firm,  furrowed  face,  who,  along 
with  her  little  grandson,  had  escaped.  But  the  day 
following,  having  hidden  the  little  one,  as  she  watch- 
ed for  some  chance  of  escape,  a  neighbor,  a  trusted 
man,  though  a  Turk,  approached.  He  told  her  the 
slayers  were  again  seeking  the  child,  and  if  she 
wished  to  save  him,  she  must  trust  the  boy  to  his 
care,  for  they  would  not  search  a  Moslem  house. 
In  her  anxiety  she  brought  the  child  and  intrusted 
him  to  the  false  friend,  only  to  see  him  led  into  the 
courtyard  and  killed.  Here  was  a  poor  creature 
burned  nearly  to  death,  the  Kurd  having  saturated 
his  clothing  with  kerosene  and  set  it  on  fire.  True 
maids  and  faithful  wives  wept  continually,  hiding 
their  faces  from  sight,  for  from  behind  closed  doors 
of  torture  and  death,  poor  wretches,  mad  with  fear, 
covered  with  blood  and  wounds,  rushed  into  the 
open  street,  and  fell  with  a  helpless  appeal  among 


234  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

the  passers-by.  In  the  summer  of  1896,  five  hun- 
dred victims  escaped  from  the  Turkish  shambles  to 
Marseilles.  The  French  government  was  per- 
plexed. It  feared  "international  complications," 
and  the  poor  refugees,  penned  in  an  open  barn  by 
the  local  authorities,  were  given  a  few  cents  each 
every  day  or  two,  with  which  to  buy  bread. 

Some  one  saw  in  the  situation  material  for  an 
interesting  letter,  which  was  afterward  published 
by  the  London  and  Paris  newspapers.  This  reached 
the  eyes  of  Miss  WiUard  and  Lady  Henry  Somerset, 
just  as  they  were  starting  on  a  brief  bicycle  tour 
through  Normandy,  seeking  much-needed  change 
and  recuperation  before  the  long  winter  of  work  be- 
gan. They  were  weary  and  worn  almost  to  the  point 
of  exhaustion,  but  determined  to  go  at  once  to 
Marseilles.  Here  they  promptly  opened  communi- 
cation with  General  Booth,  of  the  Salvation  Army, 
and  the  grand  old  General,  from  whom  they  received 
cordial  help,  at  once  sent  an  army  officer  to  Mar- 
seilles. They  besieged  the  local  authorities  until 
part  of  a  charity  hospital  was  turned  over  to  their 
use.  It  was  three  hundred  years  old,  damp,  and 
mustj^  but  there  were  great  stone  troughs  of  run- 
ning water  in  the  courtyard.  Miss  Willard  and 
Lady  Henry  Somerset,  \s-ith  a  young  missionary 
lady  from  Turkey,  who  providentially  was  able  to 
assist  them,  put  things  into  some  degree  of  comfort- 


ANSWERING  ARMENIA'S  CRY       235 

able  readiness,  and  there  the  Armenians  were 
brought. 

Their  first  problem  was  to  procure  suitable  and 
sufficient  food,  and  soon  they  were  making  soup  by 
huge  kettlefuls,  meat  and  onions  and  red  peppers 
bubbling  together,  and  for  each  a  whole  pound  of 
good  bread  was  provided.  The  appetizing  odor 
penetrated  the  bare,  long  halls,  and  those  of  the 
weary  creatures  who  could  not  assist  gathered  about 
the  doors  and  eagerly  waited.  When  all  was  ready, 
great  bowls  were  set  in  rows  along  the  floor.  "  Sure- 
ly," said  an  aged  priest,  "this  is  the  kitchen  of  Jesus 
Christ";  and  calling  a  young  lad  to  him,  he  laid  his 
old  hands  upon  the  youth 's  head,  and  bade  him  say 
grace.  The  boy  repeated  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and 
all  the  people  chanted  "Amen."  The  building  was 
soon  humming  like  a  hive  with  hope  and  life  and 
mutual  helpfulness.  The  young  men  were  washing 
clothes  and  scrubbing  the  floors;  those  who  could 
were  cobbling  the  shoes  of  the  entire  party,  and  the 
women  were  cutting  and  sewing  needful  garments 
from  cloth  furnished  by  Miss  Willard  and  Lady 
Henry  Somerset. 

Then  arose  the  problem  of  permanent  provision 
for  these  victims  of  man's  indifference  to  man. 
How  to  find  for  them  places  of  useful  service  to  others 
and  support  to  themselves  was  the  serious  question. 
Arrangements  were  made  for  distributing  two  hun- 


236  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

dred  on  the  Continent;  one  hundred  Lady  Henry 
Somerset  took  to  London,  leaving  the  Refuge  Hospi- 
tal in  the  hands  of  the  Salvation  Army.  Many  beg- 
ged to  be  sent  to  America,  which  was  "the  Lord's 
home  for  the  oppressed,"  they  said,  thinking  of  the 
American  missionaries.  Two  hundred  Miss  Willard 
brought  to  this  country  through  the  co-operation 
of  noble  and  leading  white-ribboners,  some  of  whom 
became  personally  responsible  to  the  United  States 
Government  for  twenty-five  refugees  each  until 
they  could  become  self-supporting. 

Miss  Willard  now  appealed  to  America  in  behalf 
of  Armenia.  To  the  country  at  large,  as  a  nation 
just,  brave,  and  generous;  to  women  as  the  molders 
of  public  opinion,  reverencing  the  name  of  Christ 
and  sympathetic  with  the  downtrodden  and  oppress- 
ed; to  the  women  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temper- 
ance Union  especially,  as  sisters  loved  and  faithful 
co-laborers  with  her  for  years  in  every  form  of  endea- 
vor; to  Christian  ministers,  urging  them  to  devote 
a  Sunday  evening  service  to  the  Armenian  question, 
and  to  secure  the  passage  of  resolutions  of  protest 
—  to  all  these  the  cry  went  out.  The  General  Offi- 
cers of  the  National  Woman 's  Christian  Temperance 
Union,  under  Miss  Willard 's  leadership,  sent  the 
following  earnest  petition  to  Congress : 

We,  the  officers  of  the  National  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  representing  a  mem- 


ANSWERING  ARMENIA'S  CRY       237 

bership  and  following  of  not  fewer  than  a  million 
people,  who  believe  that  the  protection  of  the  home 
is  the  supreme  duty  of  statesmen,  do  hereby  most 
earnestly  and  solemnly  beseech  you  to  take  such 
action  as  shall  put  our  home-loving  Republic  on 
record  as  having  used  its  moral  and  material  in- 
fluence for  the  relief  of  Armenia,  the  martyr  nation, 
in  the  time  of  its  supreme  distress.  We  respect- 
fully urge  that  our  country  should  no  longer  remain 
a  silent  spectator  of  the  agony  and  outrage  inflicted 
by  Moslem  savages  upon  our  brother  and  sister 
Christians,  whose  only  fault  is  their  devotion  to 
Christ  and  their  loyalty  to  a  pure  home. 

We  beg  you,  therefore,  as  the  legally  constituted 
representatives  of  the  wives  and  mothers  of  our 
nation,  to  give  heed  to  our  devoted  prayer  and 
aspiration  that  America  may,  through  her  highest 
legislative  authorities,  give  expression  to  all  the 
world  of  her  abhorrence  of  the  atrocities  in  Armenia, 
and  may  make  an  appropriation  from  the  people's 
money  for  the  relief  of  our  brothers  and  sisters  who 
have  been  driven  to  the  last  extremity  by  the  fatal 
fanaticism  of  the  Sultan  and  his  soldiers. 

These  appeals  have  hardly  been  equaled  in  effect 
in  the  annals  of  the  world.  "Sisters,  countrymen," 
she  cried,  "our  fellow- worshipers  perish  because 
they  will  not  apostatize.  An  ancient  nation  is  be- 
ing slaughtered  on  the  plains  of  old  Bible  story. 
Fifty  thousand  victims  slain  under  God 's  sky  in  the 
slow-moving  circle  of  a  year!  Women  suffering 
indignity  and  death;  children  tossed  on  the  bayo- 


238  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

nets  of  Turkish  soldiery;  villages  burned;  starva- 
tion the  common  lot.  Now,  even  now,  while  the 
sun  is  shining  on  our  own  safe  homes,  on  the  white 
spires  of  our  churches,  on  our  living  children  in  our 
arms,  these  tortures,  these  martyrdoms,  continue. 
And,  behold!  Europe,  that  promised  so  much  and 
so  sincerely  —  Europe,  with  seven  million  soldiers, 
and  statesmen  and  diplomats  clever  as  money- 
lenders —  has  neither  statesman,  diplomat,  nor 
soldier  able  to  save  a  single  helpless  life,  protect  a 
single  helpless  child,  or  give  a  single  loaf  of  bread 
to  the  starving  mouths.  The  Turk  is  a  savage;  our 
statesmen  are  —  over-civilized !  The  Turk  follows 
his  will;  we  follow  our  interests.  His  part  is  the 
less  ignoble  of  the  two." 

The  practical  power  of  Miss  Willard;  the  cool 
level-headedness  which  no  indignation,  pity,  or 
scorn  could  disturb;  the  quiet  judgment  as  to  what 
could  be  accomplished;  the  careful  choice  of  means 
to  an  end,  were  never  better  shown  than  in  the  gener- 
al "field  order"  to  her  comrades  of  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union  which  followed:  "I 
call  upon  you  to  organize  meetings  in  every  locality, 
urging  our  government  to  co-operate  with  England 
in  putting  a  stop  to  the  massacre  and  giving  protec- 
tion thenceforth  to  Armenian  homes.  Let  these 
meetings  be  addressed  by  the  pastors,  business  men, 
and  most  capable  women.  Let  money  be  raised  by 
systematic  visitation  as  well  as  by  collection." 


ANSWERING  ARMENIA'S  CRY       239 

To  the  women  all  over  the  land  she  said:  "May 
God  so  deal  with  us  at  last  as  we  deal  with  our 
Armenian  sisters  and  brothers,  and  their  little  ones, 
in  this  hour  of  their  overwhelming  calamity." 
Appeals  like  these  through  the  aid  of  the  Armenian 
Committee  in  New  York  City  went  out  by  the  hun- 
dred thousand  in  every  mail.  "Angry?"  Yes! 
"Full  of  indignant  grief?"  Yea,  verily!  As  Mark 
Twain  said,  "I  should  be  ashamed  not  to  be  angry." 
These  appeals  were  also  full  of  good  sense,  and  they 
were  effective.  Clergymen  gave  a  Sunday  to 
Armenia.  A  million  Christians  united  in  petition. 
Money  poured  in.  The  Christian  Herald,  of  New 
York,  rallied  grandly  to  the  rescue,  most  generous- 
ly supporting  the  cause.  Business  men  gave. 
Above  all  were  heaped  the  offerings  of  the  women 
and  the  Christian  Endeavor  and  other  young 
people's  societies.  They  were  hearing  "the  cry 
of  the  world,"  and  nobly  they  responded,  filling  full 
the  hands  of  Clara  Barton,  who  sailed  for  Turkey 
under  the  sacred  protection  of  the  Red  Cross  flag, 
bearing  seed  corn  for  the  fallow  fields,  food  for  the 
starving,  garments  for  the  unclothed,  and  hope  and 
help  for  all  whom  hope  and  help  could  reach. 

Of  the  results  that  will  live  in  history  it  is  not  yet 
time  to  tell.  The  work,  in  many  of  its  aspects,  is 
still  going  on.  There  is  abundant  testimony  in 
confirmation  of  Miss  Willard's  judgment  in  respect 
to  those  who  were  sent  to  this  country,  for  they  are 


240  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

proving  themselves  honest,  intelHgent  citizens,  of 
the  kind  which  America  may  well  be  proud  to  own. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  work  endeared  Miss 
Willard  to  their  hearts  as  nothing  else  could  have 
done.  As  one  of  her  co-workers  stood  by  the  land- 
ing-stage waiting  to  greet  a  party  of  the  immigrants 
from  Marseilles  arri\ing  in  Portland,  Maine,  a  young 
man  among  them,  seeing  her  white  ribbon,  sprang 
forward,  touched  it,  and  bending  low  to  kiss  the 
hand  that  was  extended  in  greeting,  eagerly  repeated 
the  one  word  of  English  that  they  knew  —  "Wil- 
lard." 

From  one  of  those  welcomed  to  Massachusetts 
came  later  this  touching  tribute : 

"I  sympathize  with  the  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union  for  the  saddest  and  most  unexpected 
flight  of  Miss  Frances  E.  WiUard,  the  Lady  of  ladies. 
We  read  in  newspapers  and  wept  so  much,  but  in 
vain.  She  passed  away,  having  performed  her  duty. 
She  will  not  come  back  again.  But  we  may  turn 
to  her.     This  is  the  lament  of  my  heart  for  her: 

"01  the  single  angel  on  earth, 
How  quick  you  passed  away  from  us! 
O  sweet  WiUard,  the  only  Seraph, 
You  sowed  the  seeds  of  kindness  everj'where ! 

"O  tender-hearted  maiden  of  the  Lord, 
You  were  a  virtuous  and  blessed  Virgin, 
^Tio  embodied  Jesus  in  her  active  life. 
Who  vibrated  the  strains  of  the  hearts  of  sisters  equally. 


ANSWERING  ARMENIA'S  CRY       241 

O  the  great  heart,  the  hearts  of  hearts,  the  lady  of  ladies! 

WTio  reached  the  ends  of  the  wide  world. 

To  uplift  the  fallen  humanity  to  its  Home  Paradise. 

You  did  not  spare  your  last  ability,  energy,  and  even  your 

precious  life. 
Your  whole  life  has  been  a  sweet  prayer,  a  charming  melody, 

an  inspiration/ 
The  body,  the  earthly  tabernacle,  failed  at  last,  while  the  soul 

endured  to  the  end 
And  passed  away  for  largest  spheres  of  services. 
O  Jesus,  bestow  in  us  the  double  spirit  of  hers. 
That  we  may  accomplish  our  best  to  keep  on 
What  she  began  through  Thy  power  on  high 
To  hasten  Thy  kingdom,  0  the  King  of  kings,  the  Lord  of 

Lords! 

D.  H.  SiSLiAM,  for  H.  Hagopian. 
"P.  S. —  God  be  with  you  till  we  all  meet  again  in  yonder. 
'How  sweet  and  beautiful  it  is  to  be  with  God.' 
Very  cordially  yours. 

The  Same." 

The  weeks  spent  in  Marseilles  were  followed  by 
days  of  great  weariness  for  Miss  Willard,  and  reach- 
ing America  in  time  for  the  National  Convention 
in  St.  Louis  in  November,  1896,  she  came  before 
her  beloved  constituency  with  an  annual  message 
unwritten  save  on  the  "red  tablets  of  her  heart." 

But  she  talked  out  of  that  great  heart  as  never 
before,  her  eager  listeners  cheering  her  on  with 
responsive  enthusiasm,  and  in  closing  an  address 
resistless  in  its  compact  force  she  said : 

I  had  begun  to  dictate  little  slips  of  my  address 
when  all  of  a  sudden  the  savages  of  the  Sultan  put 
the  knife  to  the  throat  and  the  big  bludgeon  to  the 


242  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

head  of  the  Armenians  in  Constantinople,  and  soon 
after  we  heard  of  the  refugees  in  Marseilles,  with- 
out shelter  or  food.  Then  something  said  to  me, 
"Why,  those  Armenians  stand  for  your  ideas,  the 
white-ribbon  ideas;  the  sanctity  of  home  life,  the 
faithful  loyalty  of  one  man  to  one  woman;  and  they 
have  illustrated  this  like  no  other  nation  on  the  face 
of  the  earth;  they  lived  it  centuries  before  Mo- 
hammed had  ever  conceived  his  vile  religion  which 
degrades  manhood,  puts  lust  instead  of  love,  and 
makes  woman  a  bond-slave  of  man  in  the  harem  to 
which  he  has  consigned  her. ' '  And  so  I  said :  ' '  Yes, 
these  are  they  whom  I  would  like  most  of  all  to  help ; 
they  love  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  and  they  have  laid 
their  lives  upon  the  altar  for  Christ." 

And  then  our  missionaries  told  me  how  women 
had  leaped  into  the  rivers  rather  than  have  the 
Turk  pounce  with  his  heavy  hand  upon  them;  they 
told  me  of  members  of  their  schools,  sweet  young 
girls,  who  had  thrown  themselves  into  the  flames  of 
the  Christian  church  at  Sassoun  because  the  Turkish 
ofiicers  pursued  the  youngest  and  fairest  of  them  to 
take  them  away.  They  told  me  things  not  lawful 
to  utter  of  what  young  husbands  suffered  in  the 
presence  of  the  young  wives  who  were  true  to  them 
and  who  with  them  endured  a  double  death  in  the 
open  streets.  And  I  said  in  my  heart,  "That  is 
God's  nation,  and  I  am  going  to  Marseilles  to  help." 

Now,  I  only  want  to  say  one  thing  more,  though 
I  kept  it  as  a  little  secret,  but  you  do  not  know  what 
waves  and  storms  I  came  over  to  get  here.  Some 
of  the  friends  of  Armenia  in  the  dear  old  mother 
country  urged  me  to  go  to  Jerusalem  and  see  the 


ANSWERING  ARMENIA'S   CRY       243 

Patriarch,  whom  the  Sultan  has  dismissed,  to  see 
if  I  could  not  bring  him  to  England  to  stand  up  in 
his  patriarchal  robes  and  tell  his  story  to  the  people. 
There  was  another  plan  to  go  to  the  help  of  the 
Catholicus,  who  is  at  the  head  of  the  whole  Armen- 
ian church,  and  who  has  an  army  of  refugees  around 
him;  or  to  Cyprus,  where  it  is  proposed  to  found  a 
colony  for  the  women  and  children.  Oh,  it  all 
looked  so  heavenly  to  do;  but  I  said,  "  There  are  older 
ties;  there  is  a  deep,  throbbing  chord  between  me  and 
the  white-ribbon  women  of  my  country,  and  though 
I  could  not  leave  England  until  I  knew  whether 
my  native  land  would  welcome  the  Armenians,  I 
came  to  you  with  a  glad  heart,  although  there  was 
work  —  a  holy  work  —  and  a  great-hearted  com- 
rade whom  I  left  behind. 


CHAPTER   XV 

OLD   HAUNTS  AND  HOMES  REVISITED 

"  'Tis  not  in  battles  that  from  youth  we  train 
The  governor  who  must  be  wise  and  good. 

And  temper  with  the  sternness  of  the  brain 

Thoughts  motherly,  and  meet  as  womanhood. 

Wisdom  doth  live  with  children  round  her  knees : 
Books,  leisure,  perfect  freedom,  and  the  talk 
Man  holds  with  week-day  man  in  the  hourly  walk 

Of  the  mind's  business:  these  are  the  degrees 

By  which  true  Sway  doth  mount;  this  is  the  stalk 

True  Power  doth  grow  on;  and  her  rights  are  these." 

Wordsworth's  sonnet,  the  last  words  Miss  Willard 
committed  to  memory,  gives  her  ideal  of  home. 
"Thoughts  motherly,  and  meet  as  womanhood," 
blessed  her  childhood,  and,  a  woman,  she  went  out 
to  bless  the  homes  of  all  the  world.  The  sanctities 
of  motherhood  were  not  denied  her,  since  she  made 
sweeter  the  sleep  and  safer  the  steps  of  every  little 
child.  She  was  a  fireside  being  and  found  a  place  by 
a  hundred  hearths,  consecrating  and  quickening  the 
flame  that  was  kindled  on  each,  while  she  loved  her 
own  home  with  all  the  purity  and  enthusiasm  of  her 
nature. 

When  we  remember  the  child  in  her  daily  frolics 
and  rambles  and  tender  twilight  dreamings  at 
244 


OLD  HAUNTS  AND  HOMES  REVISITED    245 

Forest  Home,  the  young  woman  planting  trees  with 
her  father  in  Evanston  and  noting  all  the  magic  play 
of  nature,  we  comprehend  that  home  was  not  a 
platitude  but  a  plenitude  to  this  woman  of  ideals. 
In  its  quintessence  of  intimacy,  endearment,  and 
sympathy  it  comforted  her,  but  as  a  type  of  universal 
kindness  it  warmed  her  imagination.  Her  soul 
builded  ever  "more  stately  mansions,"  but  it  never 
forgot  its  primitive  surroundings,  its  growing-cells. 
Nature,  Humanity,  God,  became  her  "dwelling 
place,"  through  which  she  passed  right  graciously 
to  her  last  home,  yet  loving  to  linger  at  each  dear 
stopping  place,  each  tenement  of  all  the  way.  Fast 
outgrowing  the  earthly  garment  of  the  flesh.  Miss 
Willard  turned  in  these  last  months  with  all  her 
tenacious  purpose  toward  revisiting  those  places 
which  had  sheltered  her  as  child,  maiden,  and  wom- 
an, shutting  her  away,  in  their  sweet  restfulness, 
from  the  world  to  which  she  belonged. 

In  the  mother  country  she  had  gone  through 
quiet  fields  and  flowery  byways  to  the  village  of 
Horsmonden,  in  Kent,  where  lived  those  stanch 
English  lives  that  bequeathed  to  their  descendants 
such  resistless  courage  and  unspent  energy.  In  the 
registry  of  the  parish  church  she  saw  the  name  of 
Simon  Willard,  with  the  date  of  his  baptism,  and 
under  the  spell  of  by-gone  years,  standing  in  the 
high-perched  pulpit,  she  recited  Mrs.  Hemans '  hymn : 


246  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

"The  breaking  waves  dashed  high 
On  a  stern  and  rockbound  coast. 
And  the  woods  against  a  stormy  sky 
Their  giant  branches  tossed; 

"And  the  heavy  night  hung  dark 

The  hills  and  waters  o'er. 
When  a  band  of  exiles  moored  their  bark 
On  the  wild  New  England  shore." 

It  was  the  first  home  revisited,  a  mystic  and  sen- 
tient hour  for  our  leader,  a  realization  of  those  primal 
unities  which  make  America  one  with  England. 
The  old  Horsmonden  church  now  holds  a  commem- 
orative tablet  presented  by  Miss  Willard  as  an  ex- 
pression of  her  gratitude  for  the  inheritance  of  "a 
good  great  name." 

After  the  St.  Louis  Convention  in  November, 
1896,  Castile,  New  York,  was  selected  as  a  winter 
residence  and  became  a  genuine  home  through  the 
constant  thoughtfulness  and  gracious  personality 
of  the  presiding  genius  of  its  sanitarium.  Dr.  Cordelia 
A.  Greene,  whom  Miss  Willard  was  wont  to  describe 
as  the  essence  of  strength  and  gentleness  in  combina- 
tion, a  chemical  amalgam  of  scientist  and  saint. 
The  home  group  that  drew  about  Miss  Willard  in 
pretty  "Daily  Cottage"  included  a  blessed  mother 
and  her  trio  of  daughters,  and  was  the  circle  closest 
to  her  whose  practical  thought  and  genial  fancy 
directed  and  beautified  the  winter. 

Of  Castile  Miss  Willard  writes :    "I  wish  you  could 


OLD  HAUNTS  AND  HOMES  REVISITED    247 

see  this  little  village  on  top  of  its  hill  and  under  its 
ice  and  snow.  It  abounds  in  fine  tall  elms  and 
maples,  although  they  do  not  console  one  very  much 
these  days!  But  its  evergreens  are  a  real  comfort, 
a  protection  when  we  sit  out  'breathing  deeply'  on 
these  cold  wintry  mornings,  and  sometimes  when  the 
heavens  are  brilliant  and  the  angle  of  vision  just 
right,  /  can  see  the  flush  of  leaves  that  are  to  be  in  the 
top  of  a  lovely  willow  that  lifts  its  symmetrical 
proportions  just  across  the  street." 

This  sensitiveness  to  the  charms  of  nature  gave 
vividness  and  pathos  to  every  phase  of  Miss  Wil- 
lard  's  home  life,  even  when  she  made  home  of  tran- 
sient tarrying  places  where  she  stopped  but  a.  day. 
Her  acute,  acquisitive  spirit  attracted  to  itself  imme- 
diately the  distinguishing  qualities  of  the  landscape. 
The  mind  that  saw  "the  flush  of  leaves  that  are  to 
be"  naturally  saw  infinite  things  besides,  and  the 
fragile  form  accentuated  the  mystery  and  variety 
of  the  soul 's  expression. 

A  delightful  interruption  to  the  usual  routine  was 
Miss  Susan  B.  Anthony's  visit,  the  experience  of 
which  Miss  Willard  shared  with  her  comrades  in  a 
letter  to  The  Union  Signal:  "It  was  a  bright  sunny 
day  in  this  upland  town,  fifteen  hundred  feet  above 
the  sea  level.     I  cleared  my  writing  room  for  our 

dear  friend,  and  A went  to  the  station  to  meet 

her.     We  gathered  in  a  group  at  the  door  as  they 


248  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

drew  up,  it  being  my  intention  to  'help  Susan  out.' 
But  I  saw  that  anybody  less  swift  of  foot  than  a 
footbaU  expert  need  make  no  such  attempt.  Forth 
stepped  Miss  Anthony,  seventy-seven  years  of  age, 
with  traveling  bag  and  umbrella,  her  movements 
as  balanced  and  agile  as  they  were  a  half-century 
ago,  her  face  lighting  up  with  smiles  and  the  cheery 
'How  are  you.f*'  as  she  walked  in,  bringing  a  breezi- 
ness  that  seemed  perennial.  As  a  matter  of  course, 
we  sat  down  for  a  talk,  which  continued  with  slight 
interruption  until  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day, 
each  one  'getting  in  a  word'  as  opportunity  offered, 
and  very  likely  each  saying  to  herself,  'There,  she 
has  stopped  to  breathe;  now  comes  my  chance.'" 

This  picture  of  Miss  Willard  as  a  hostess  will  be 
widely  recognized.  Outgoing,  inclusive,  comprehen- 
sive, instantly  en  rapport  with  her  guest,  feeling 
with  electric  rapidity  the  subtle  combination  of  the 
forces  to  be  met,  she  rose  to  every  occasion  and 
adapted  herself  perfectly  to  the  varying  phases  of 
thought  and  feeling  in  other  minds.  It  was  at 
Castile  as  she  sped  her  parting  guest,  Mrs.  J.  K. 
Barney,  of  Rhode  Island,  just  starting  for  Australia 
as  our  white-ribbon  missionary,  that  Miss  Willard 
gave  utterance  to  such  vigorous  words  of  faith  in 
the  work  and  the  worker  as  sent  her  forth  like  an 
officer  in  the  great  army  inspired  by  the  commands 
of  a  general.     Never  did  Miss  Willard 's  working 


OLD  HAUNTS  AND  HOMES  REVISITED    249 

power  seem  more  creative.  Editorials,  articles  for 
the  newspapers;  plans  for  a  birthday  celebration  for 
Neal  Dow;  eager  sympathy  and  effort  for  Armenia; 
"A  Woman's  Plea  for  the  Purification  of  the  Press"; 
plans  for  the  "Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  New  Year,"  made  during  visits  from  a  number 
of  temperance  experts;  a  "lift"  for  the  local  union 
when  dearly  loved  white-ribboners  spoke  under  its 
auspices;  an  evening  of  fun  for  the  sanitarium  pa- 
tients —  all  these  entered  into  the  winter 's  activity. 
With  spring's  coming  she  drooped;  the  physical 
energy  that  had  been  gained  by  unfailing  response 
to  her  wise  physician's  behests  slowly  ebbed  away, 
and  it  was  believed  a  stay  at  Atlantic  City  would 
refresh  the  weary  worker.  With  deep  concern  it 
was  seen  that  ocean  breeze  and  varied  seaside  life 
failed  to  bring  the  wished-for  strength.  For  three 
weeks  she  was  in  the  open  air,  much  of  the  time  in 
her  rolling  chair,  looking  out  over  the  wide  expanse  of 
ocean,  dictating  correspondence  and  articles,  letting 
the  tides  of  human  life  and  the  sea  make  fuller  her 
spirit's  vigor,  while  the  body  gained  only  meagre 
treasure  of  strength,  and  the  pathetic  whiteness  of 
her  face  told  its  own  sad  story.  During  the  stay 
in  Atlantic  City  an  excursion  was  made  to  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  where  Miss  Willard  spent  a  memorable 
Sunday  as  a  guest  at  Cedar  Hill,  the  home  of  Mrs. 
Frederick   Douglass.     Returning   to   the   seashore, 


250  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

she  welcomed  Miss  Jackson,  then  on  her  way  to 
Germany,  and  a  week  of  reminiscence  and  prophecy 
was  given  to  these  friends  of  "Auld  Lang  Syne." 
It  was  fitting  that  this  their  last  visit  together  should 
take  place  in  New  Jersey,  near  the  hospitable  Jack- 
son home  from  which  years  ago  they  had  set  out 
upon  their  European  travels.  On  May  sixth  Miss 
Willard  spoke  in  Broadway  Tabernacle,  New  York 
City,  fulfilling  a  long-deferred  promise  that  an  address 
should  be  given  by  the  National  President  to  the 
state  securing  the  largest  number  of  new  members 
during  the  year,  and  a  similar  promise  was  redeemed 
for  New  Jersey  by  an  address  at  Jersey  City  five 
evenings  later. 

Then  for  five  weeks  in  the  shadow  of  Cambridge 
University  she  rested  by  a  congenial  fireside  and 
enjoj^ed  in  her  hostess  a  woman  of  rare  culture  and 
most  entertaining  originality.  Whoever  knows 
Cambridge  needs  no  description  of  its  richness  of 
romance  and  erudition,  and  the  rare  charm  of  its 
gracious  hospitality.  Miss  Willard  took  daily  drives 
behind  a  gentle,  slow-paced  Norwegian  pony  lent 
her  by  the  poet  Longfellow's  daughter,  "Laughing 
Allegra."  "How  little  I  thought,"  said  the  guest, 
"when  a  child  in  my  linsey-woolsey  gown  on  a  Wis- 
consin farm,  that  'Laughing  Allegra'  would  ever 
lend  me  her  pony,  but  so  it  was  to  be.  It  was  prob- 
ably because  I  knew  and  loved  them  long  ago  that 


OLD  HAUNTS  AND  HOMES  REVISITED    251 

I  am  near  them  now."  Here  in  the  quiet  family 
life,  ministered  to  by  devoted  friends,  Miss  Willard 
became  stronger,  and  in  June  she  started  northward 
toward  the  hills,  settling  for  the  summer  months  at 
Hotel  Ponemah,  in  Milford  Springs,  eight  hundred 
feet  above  the  quiet  little  village  of  Amherst,  New 
Hampshire,  noble  in  situation  with  a  restful  prospect 
of  farm  lands  and  hills  filling  the  wide  western  hori- 
zon. In  the  weeks  that  followed.  Nature  sought 
her  child,  and  she  lent  her  ear  and  eye  to  all  the 
tender,  coaxing  sights  and  signs  about  her.  Laying 
her  tired  head  upon  that  tireless  heart,  breathing 
deep  fragrant  inhalations,  she  heard  those  well- 
known  chirpings  and  whisperings,  the  speech  of 
insect  and  leaf  that  had  wooed  her  in  her  girlhood. 
On  a  drive  between  the  hotel  and  IMilford,  she  count- 
ed seventy  varieties  of  trees  and  shrubs  and  recorded 
them  for  her  pleasure.  Noting  intently  every  pass- 
ing expression  of  summer  —  that  last  sweet  summer 
of  her  earthly  life  —  she  dwelt  with  childlike  joy 
on  every  fern  and  flower  and  singing  bird.  Her 
love  of  birds  was  more  than  a  fondness;  it  was  ^.n 
affinity.  As  a  girl,  she  had  dreamed  of  all  things  free, 
and  her  last  verse-writing  was  to  celebrate  that  long- 
ing for  flight  which  she  shared  with  every  winged 
thing.  But  even  into  this  summer  idyl  would  break 
the  human  love,  the  longing  for  distant  friends,  or  the 
ever-present  mindfulness  of  whatever  by  her  side 


252  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

might  creep  or  cling,  and  we  note  this  memorandum 
carefully  fastened  to  her  dressing  table  and  as  care- 
fully carried  out :  ' '  August  1 7 —  Go  to  see  the  ninety- 
five  year  old  lady;  also  the  paralyzed  woman  who 
lives  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  Take  to  each  of  them 
some  magazine,  or  picture  book,  or  something." 

The  village  of  Chesham,  once  a  part  of  Dublin, 
New  Hampshire,  is  but  a  few  miles  west  of  Milford 
Springs,  and  there,  toward  the  last  of  the  season. 
Miss  Willard  spent  a  happy  holiday  at  Brookside 
Farm  with  the  descendants  of  her  great-great-grand- 
father. Elder  Elijah  Willard,  who  for  forty  years 
preached  in  the  Baptist  church  of  the  village.  Over 
shady  roads  reminding  her  of  English  lanes  she  drove 
through  sloping  farm  country  in  sight  of  Mount 
Monadnock,  recounting  the  adventures  of  "that 
trip  with  father"  forty  years  before,  when  she  went 
East  to  take  "Nineteen  Beautiful  Years"  for  publi- 
cation, and  when  all  the  relatives  were  visited  and  the 
first  mountain  was  seen  by  the  prairie-girl  traveler. 
Sunday  morning  she  sat  in  the  old  church  that  had 
been  but  little  changed  in  the  changing  years,  and 
at  the  young  people 's  service  of  praise  in  the  even- 
ing she  spoke  tender  words  of  recollection  and  cheer. 
She  drove  up  the  steep  hills  to  the  low-studded  home- 
stead in  which  Elder  Willard  lived  and  died,  and 
standing  on  the  quaint  porch,  shading  her  eyes  with 
her  delicate  hand,  she  drank  her  fill  of  majestic 


OLD  HAUNTS  AND  HOMES  REVISITED    253 

Monadnock,  and  turning  to  Mount  Willard  on  her 
right  remarked:  "Yes,  these  are  the  old  haunts 
from  which  I  received  my  original  fibers." 

Monday  morning,  after  a  chat  with  an  aged  farmer 
who  had  known  the  Elder  well  and  who  every  few 
minutes  would  say  with  strong  emphasis,  "Yes, 
Elder  Willard  was  a  beautiful  man,"  Miss  Willard 
drove  to  her  ancestor's  grave  and  placed  there  a 
cluster  of  water  lilies,  the  floral  emblem  of  the 
World's  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union. 
Many  calls  were  made  on  those  related  by  ties  of 
kindred  and  affection  to  the  pastor  beloved,  many 
stories  of  his  progressive  views  and  sound  judgment 
were  enjoyed,  and  Miss  Willard  was  like  a  happy 
child,  her  overflowing  spirits  communicating  them- 
selves to  all  about  her. 

August  seventh  found  her  in  Ogunquit,  the  guest 
of  near  and  dear  friends  summering  there.  These 
days  on  the  rugged  Maine  coast  had  in  them  the 
true  witchery  of  the  sea.  A  thoroughgoing  clam- 
bake, a  ride  on  the  white,  smooth  beach  on  her  bi- 
cycle, dictating  daily  from  a  rock  if  not  a  rocking- 
chair,  exulting  in  the  sunlight  and  the  sunsets,  the 
days  went  on  full  of  thought  for  the  conventions 
soon  to  meet.  Portland  was  close  at  hand,  and  for 
a  few  days  she  was  Mrs.  Stevens'  guest  in  that  city 
while  earnest  convention  plans  were  made  with  her 
closest  coadjutors  in  National  and  World's  work. 


254  FRANXES   E.  WILLARD 

Touching,  in  the  hght  of  days  to  be,  was  her  inter- 
view at  this  time  with  General  Xeal  Dow;  a  talk 
keyed  to  the  harmony  of  heaven  between  two 
associated  in  liiework  and  so  soon  to  enter  upon 
eternal  endeavor. 

With  the  last  days  of  August  she  said  good-by  to 
the  sea  "down  in  the  haven,"  and  felt  again  the 
impulse  of  the  hill  countrj"  as  she  started  to  %dsit  the 
homes  of  her  father  and  mother  in  Vermont.  They 
were  a  hill-bom  race  and  acquired  among  that  up- 
lifted company  their  wide-eyed  ^'ision.  Eleven 
miles  only  separated  the  lad  and  lassie,  Josiah  and 
Mary.  The  girl  grew  on  the  breeze*  plateau  of 
Dan%"ille,  with  its  distant  sky-line  curved  with 
mountains  and  its  hushed  pasture  lands  —  a  far-see- 
ing place  —  and  she  did  not  know  the  boy  who  from 
the  heights  above  Wheelock  Hollow  was  looking 
out  on  the  same  magnificent  range  of  the  \Miite 
Mountains.  Nature  was  in  her  most  imperial  mood 
that  August  thirtieth  when  Miss  Willard  stood  on  the 
spot  where  her  revered  mother  had  been  given  to  the 
world,  and  planted  a  fragrant  balsam  and  a  sturdy 
pine,  symbols  of  the  two  lives  that  had  meant  the 
most  to  her.  There,  surrounded  by  home-folk  who 
claimed  her  as  a  daughter,  a  sister,  a  mother  be- 
loved, she  made  one  of  those  speeches  which 
search  out  the  heart.  Old  men  and  women  wept 
Uke  children,  and  one  man  summed  it  up  in  a  sen- 


OLD  HAUNTS  AND  HOMES  REVISITED    255 

tence  as  the  most  "homey  talk"  he  had  ever  heard. 
Oh,  the  blessed  memory  of  that  daj^!  Writes  one 
who  was  present:  "Do  you  remember  how  with 
almost  girlish  glee  she  threw  the  earth  over  the  roots 
of  the  trees  and  dashed  the  water  on?"  As  she  drove 
from  the  village,  followed  by  the  love  and  "  God  bless 
you"  of  the  country  folk,  there  were  two  stopping 
places  on  the  way  —  one  to  visit  the  quiet  grave- 
yard, where  she  lovingly  placed  flowers  on  the  hillock 
that  marked  the  resting  place  of  " mother's  deskmate 
in  the  long  ago,"  the  other  to  enter  the  home  of  an 
invalid  white-ribboner  and  to  leave  with  her  bright 
blossoms  before  the  hand  that  eagerly  grasped 
them  should  be  still  forever.  From  Danville  she 
drove  to  Wheelock,  planted  snowball  bushes  at  her 
uncle 's  grave,  visited  the  Willard  Farm  —  her  fa- 
ther 's  birthplace  —  and  was  loath  to  leave  the 
"sugar  bush,"  whose  kingly  maples  were  the  boys' 
most  worshiped  sylvan  divinities. 

Once  more  in  Milford  Springs,  she  reveled  in 
Shakespeare's  plays,  English  and  American  history, 
and  held  "quiz  classes"  in  the  twilight  hours  under 
the  trees,  catching  the  first  notes  of  autumn 's  melo- 
dy, the  soft  low  strain  of  Nature's  lullaby.  She 
took  a  lingering  farewell  of  loving  mother  earth. 
Can  we  picture  it  —  this  slight  figure  with  its 
pathetic  movements  of  weariness  and  occasional 
buoyant   gestures   of   life   and   expectancy?     Here 


256  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

the  sisters,  Mary  (from  Germany)  and  Frances, 
spent  that  day  together,  of  which  Mrs.  Willard 
writes:  "Frances  could  not  talk  fast  enough.  She 
wanted  me  to  know  so  many  things,  old  secrets,  new 
hopes  and  plans.  How  heavenly  she  was,  even 
then !  Out  in  the  morning  sunshine  on  the  veranda 
she  threw  open  her  arms  to  the  sky  and  exclaimed, 
'O  universe,  what  thou  desirest  I  desire!'  So  at  one 
was  she  with  the  divine  of  heaven  and  earth,  so 
heavenly,  at  the  same  time  never  so  human.  I  have 
rarely  seen  her  in  a  more  tender,  loving  attitude 
toward  every  friend  of  now  and  then.  Her  very 
last  whisper  in  my  ear  at  the  station  was  one  that 
breathed  love  of  kin  and  fellowship  with  all  of  us 
who  are  left  to  mourn  her," 

The  poetry  of  friendship  and  nature  were  but  a 
part  of  those  halcyon  days.  During  the  hours 
bounded  by  the  sunrise  and  the  sunset,  thought  at  its 
intensest  stretch  kept  pace  with  time,  and  it  was 
her  spirit  that  got  through  the  work.  Yet  her 
strength  seemed  largely  regained,  and  she  went 
bravely  forward  with  preparations  for  the  conven- 
tion —  that  yearly  home-coming  she  loved  the  best 
of  all.  The  vacation  over,  a  soft  September  day 
was  spent  in  Still  River,  Massachusetts,  on  her  way 
to  Skaneateles,  New  York.  Still  River  held  the 
attraction  of  a  home  built  by  Henry  Willard,  great- 
grandfather  of   Miss   Willard 's   great-grandfather. 


OLD  HAUNTS  AND  HOMES  REVISITED    257 

and  a  gifted  relative,  a  true  Willard,  who  with  his 
two  maiden  sisters  entertained  her.  In  a  Quaker 
home  at  Skaneateles,  a  home  full  of  memory's 
pictures,  the  charming  colonial  country  seat  of  one 
very  dear,  Miss  Willard  completed  her  addresses 
for  Toronto  and  Buffalo,  and  all  too  soon  came  the 
hour  for  stepping  out  into  the  great  world  that 
awaited  her. 

In  Toronto,  in  October,  Miss  Willard,  in  a  foreign 
yet  a  home  land,  presented  the  crowning  message 
of  her  life.  She  was  strong  in  her  beauty,  and  never 
had  she  seemed  so  lifted  up  in  the  sweep  of  her 
thought  and  the  brilliancy  of  her  leadership.  On 
"Children's  Night,"  in  Massey  Music  Hall,  when 
she  stood  a  graceful  figure,  her  face  aglow  with  light 
and  love  against  a  background  of  one  thousand 
little  people  waving  to  her  their  enthusiastic  welcome, 
many  hearts  said  she  will  never  look  nearer  to 
heaven  than  she  does  to-night,  no  matter  how  many 
years  of  her  pilgrimage  remain. 

At  Buffalo,  in  the  convention  that  followed,  some 
who  "saw"  tell  us  they  detected  already  the  look 
of  change  upon  her  face,  that  expression  which 
separates  mortals  about  to  become  immortal.  Cer- 
tainly when  in  an  hour  of  transcendent  renunciation 
she  was  ready  to  give  home  and  the  new  year  of  her 
life  upon  which  she  had  just  entered  to  the  lifting 
of  a  material  burden  far  out-measuring  her  fragile 


258  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

health,  her  friends  felt  something  of  the  limitless 
strength  of  her  spirit.  One  picture  of  those  days 
will  be  forever  treasured,  when,  behind  the  flower- 
laden  desk,  the  president,  still  directing  the  thousand 
women  before  her,  bent  to  write  a  message  to  a 
college  girl  whose  heart  was  breaking  with  her  first 
sorrow,  and  in  the  midst  of  all  the  queenly  homage 
of  the  hour  "forgot  herself"  as  ever  in  the  sweet 
consideration  of  another  life.  It  was  a  typical 
moment  in  the  career  of  the  beautiful  crowned  wom- 
anhood whose  boundless  spiritual  affluence  could 
plan  for  humanity,  or  touch  with  a  mother's  pity 
the  grief  of  the  tenderest  human  thing. 

At  the  close  of  the  Buffalo  convention  Miss  Wil- 
lard  went  to  Churchville,  New  York,  her  birthplace, 
for  a  Sunday  with  beloved  relatives.  The  morning 
was  spent  with  the  only  surviving  relative  of  her 
mother's  generation,  "Aunt  Sarah,"  and  in  the 
afternoon  she  met  the  white-ribboners  in  the  Metho- 
dist church.  After  the  service,  two  by  two  they 
walked  to  the  house  where  Miss  Willard  was  born. 
Seeking  out  the  very  room  into  which  the  little 
stranger  came,  standing  closely  about  their  leader, 
they  heard  her  talk  of  motherhood  and  of  the  great 
home  to  which  she  was  looking,  now  that  her 
mother's  ear  would  never  again  hear  her  returning 
footsteps.  It  was  in  that  room  the  mother-love  had 
hung  over  the  cradle  of  the  child  Frances,  as  the  star 


OLD  HAUNTS  AND  HOMES  REVISITED    259 

hung  over  the  babe  in  the  manger  of  Bethlehem. 
It  was  her  coming  that  called  forth  these  words  of 
Mother  Willard  in  the  last  year  of  her  earthly  life: 

"Motherhood  is  life's  richest  and  most  delicious 
romance.  And  sitting  now  in  the  sunshine  calm 
and  sweet,  with  all  my  precious  ones  on  the  other 
side  save  only  the  daughter  who  so  faithfully 
cherishes  me  here,  I  thank  God  that  he  ever  said  to 
me  '  Bring  up  this  child  for  me  in  the  love  of  human- 
ity and  the  expectation  of  immortal  life.*  My  life 
could  not  have  held  more  joy,  if  some  white-robed 
messenger  of  the  skies  had  come  to  me  and  said,  *  I 
will  send  a  spiritual  being  into  your  arms  and  home. 
It  is  a  momentous  charge,  potent  for  good  or  evil, 
but  I  will  help  you.  Do  not  fear.  Therefore, 
mother,  step  softly.  Joy  shall  be  the  accepted 
creed  of  this  young  immortal  in  all  the  coming  years. 
This  child  shall  herald  your  example  and  counsels 
when  you  are  resting  from  your  labors.'  " 

After  a  fond  good-by  to  Aunt  Sarah  and  her  kin- 
dred beloved.  Miss  Willard,  repeating  the  first 
journey  of  her  life,  went  westward  to  Oberlin,  where 
Mary  was  born.  Here  again  in  the  old  home  she 
received  greetings  from  friends  and  relatives,  held 
glad  converse  with  her  first  Forest  Home  teacher, 
addressed  a  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union 
gathering  in  the  afternoon  and  a  public  meeting 
later,  where  the  children  of  the  Loyal  Temperance 


260  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

Legion  flocked  in;  attended  prayers  in  the  college 
chapel  with  memories  of  President  Finney  and  the 
illustrious  Christian  manhood  and  womanhood  his 
influence  had  helped  to  form. 

She  tarried  but  a  day  amid  these  dear  scenes,  and 
reaching  Chicago  was  the  warmly  welcomed  guest 
—  nay  —  beloved  member  of  the  family,  in  the 
artistic  home  of  a  loved  cousin.  There  she  received 
all  that  a  tender,  unselfish,  and  sisterly  heart  could 
devise  to  upbuild  her  physically  and  to  shelter  her 
from  the  various  engagements  and  demands  that 
came  whenever  she  returned  to  her  home  city.  Fre- 
quent visits  to  Evanston  were  more  significant  than 
any  home-goings.  The  hours  in  the  "rifted  nest," 
as  she  now  styled  Rest  Cottage,  had  pathetic 
moments,  while  even  the  thoughtful  kindness  of 
friends  old  and  new  who  entertained  her  and  the 
genial  circle  of  Evanston  neighbors  could  not  break 
the  sense  of  homelessness  more  poignant  here  than 
anywhere  else  in  the  world.  She  had  loved  this 
roof-tree  as  only  those  can  who  turn  to  it  from  other 
quarters,  who  rest  in  it  after  many  wanderings. 

It  is  pleasant  to  think  of  the  cheery  social  events 
in  which  Miss  Willard  was  able  to  take  part  in 
Chicago  and  Evanston,  though  never  did  she  work 
more  untiringly  for  white-ribbon  interests.  It  was 
particularly  gratifying  to  her  to  address  the  students 
of    the    Northwestern    and    Chicago    Universities, 


OLD  HAUNTS  AND  HOMES  REVISITED    261 

the  quaintness  and  sweetness  of  her  words  and  her 
lovely  presence  drawing  to  her  the  hearts  of  her 
younger  brothers  and  sisters,  and  her  evident  physi- 
cal frailness  arousing  their  chivalric  sympathy. 

In  the  circle  of  home  with  her  kindred  on  Thanks- 
giving Day  and  at  Christmas  time,  she  was  full  of 
merry  playfulness,  or  with  an  instant  change  of 
thought  would  say  grace  at  table,  bringing  the  di- 
vine realities  so  near  as  to  move  all  to  tears.  Her 
jubilant  alto  voice  joined  in  all  the  songs  with  only 
a  tremolo  in  "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  which  was  sung 
around  the  children's  Christmas  tree.  How  varied 
and  sparkling  was  her  table  talk  while  the  precious 
body  took  less  of  nourishment  than  the  mind  gave 
out  to  others!  The  story  of  those  hours  when  the 
vase-like  purity  of  her  being  was  so  sheer  a  screen 
for  the  flame  of  her  soul,  cannot  be  told.  Reminis- 
cence and  suggestion  will  not  give  again  the  count- 
less intimations  of  ethereal  beauty  which  she  shed 
about  her. 

New  Year's  Day,  1898,  was  to  see  again  at  Janes- 
ville,  Wisconsin,  the  woman  of  ripe  years,  of  grand 
achievement,  and  of  gentle,  perfected  womanhood, 
as  it  had  seen  her  go  out  a  mere  maiden  long  ago. 
Here  her  last  public  address  was  given  in  the  Con- 
gregational church,  with  the  friends  of  her  childhood 
days  meeting  the  glance  of  her  tender  eyes  as  she 
spoke  words  of  life  and  love  concerning  the  sanctity 


262  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

of  the  home,  and  said  with  hand  lifted  in  blessing  as 
she  left  the  pulpit,  "Good-by,  dear  friends  of  my 
loved  childhood 's  home,  good-by  —  perhaps  for- 
ever —  and  if  forever,  may  we  meet  in  our  home  in 
heaven."  With  her  cousins  she  revisited  Forest 
Home,  stood  on  the  old  veranda,  talked  with  the 
bright-faced  teacher  and  children  in  the  schoolhouse 
near  by.  This  home  more  than  any  other  had  been 
inwrought  into  her  life  and  must  have  given  her  the 
conviction  that  "homes  are  as  immortal  as  folks,  and 
in  their  essence  will  be  of  us  in  the  real  and  better 
and  oncoming  life." 


CHAPTER  XVI 
TRANSLATION 

"We  shall  never  climb  to  heaven  by  making  it 
our  life-long  motto  to  save  ourselves,"  said  Miss 
Willard  in  her  last  address  before  the  National 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union.  (Buffalo, 
1897.)  "The  process  is  too  selfish.  The  business 
of  the  true  Christian  is  coming  to  be,  'All  for  each 
and  each  for  all,'  and  in  the  honest  purpose  to  realize 
its  every-day  meaning  we  acquire  a  heart  at  leisure 
from  itself,  and  in  no  other  way. 

"On  my  recent  birthday  it  came  to  me  that  I 
could  gain  no  truer  concept  of  God  than  by  holding 
to  the  presence  of  Him  who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth 
and  the  Life,  as  ever  tenderly  smiling  on  me  and 
saying,  'Receive  My  Spirit,'  and  that  in  the  halo 
around  His  head  I  saw  the  words,  'With  what 
measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again.' 
'Receive  my  spirit!'  That  is  life's  safest  and  most 
alluring  voice,  but  there  will  come  a  day  when  we 
shall  utter  those  great  words  back  again,  'Lord 
Jesus,  receive  my  spirit,'  and  then  the  mystery  of 
life,  its  discipline,  its  joys  and  grief  will  end,  and  the 
glad  mystery  of  death  will  work  out  the  transfer 
to  other  realms  of  the  Infinite  Power. 
263 


264  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

"Christ  is  to  me,  as  I  move  forward  to  the  bourne 
whence  we  do  not  return,  more  and  more  the  vital 
center  of  all  that  is  worth  cherishing  in  this  or  any- 
world,  and  by  His  words,  that  are  life,  I  seek  to  be 
transformed  into  the  spirit  of  His  mind." 

As  we  listened  to  Miss  Willard  's  inspired  message 
we  little  realized  that,  before  many  weeks  had  passed, 
she  would  dwell  in  the  finer  heavenly  body  which 
she  so  often  said  "is  like  this  one  but  is  suited  to 
beings  who  breathe  ether  instead  of  air  —  the  body 
celestial  in  which  the  potent  human  soul  shall  move 
right  onward  in  its  growth  toward  perfectness." 

Early  in  the  year  we  went  to  New  York,  the  cos- 
mopolitan city  that  links  our  great  republic  with 
every  other.  Guests  of  one  of  New  York's  leading 
hotels,  our  faithful  stenographer  with  us,  the  days 
passed  swiftly  and  happily  in  the  usual  routine  of 
dictating  correspondence  and  articles  and  in  filling 
dates  for  conferences  and  lectures.  Gradually  Miss 
Willard  shortened  her  hours  of  work.  "Here  in  the 
body  pent"  was  her  frequent  pathetic  remark  as 
she  battled  against  great  physical  weariness.  Soon 
she  yielded  to  our  anxious  solicitations;  all  work 
was  laid  aside,  and  she  was  in  the  skillful  care  of 
doctor  and  nurse.  The  wakeful  hours  of  the  night 
were  solaced  by  a  repetition  of  the  poems  and  psalms 
she  loved  and  which  I  had  long  ago  memorized. 

From  the  first  of  her  illness  she  had  felt  she  might 


TRANSLATION  265 

not  recover,  but  her  physician  was  hopeful  and 
assured  her  that  her  earthly  work  was  not  done. 

Every  day  she  asked  lovingly  about  her  cherished 
associates  in  white-ribbon  work  and  dictated  loving 
messages  to  them.  "Blessed  are  the  inclusive,  for 
they  shall  be  included,"  was  a  beatitude  original 
with  her,  and  was  exemplified  in  her  altruistic  life. 
Our  great  leader,  whose  heart  with  extraordinary 
gentleness  went  out  to  all,  was  tenderly  and  prayer- 
fully remembered  by  her  world-wide  constituency, 
who  were  heart-broken  at  the  tidings  of  her  critical 
illness.  "Do  they  know  how  ill  I  am?"  Miss  Wil- 
lard  asked,  on  one  of  the  very  last  sad  days,  when  she 
had  received  sympathetic  messages  from  her  com- 
rades and  friends.  I  replied,  "Yes;  they  do  know, 
and  they  are  all  so  sorry,"  and,  mentioning  each 
name,  I  added,  "They  are  all  sending  you  such 
beautiful  letters,  telegrams,  and  flowers."  "How 
good!"  said  the  tender  voice;  "give  each  of  them  my 
love." 

Reading  aloud  from  her  favorite  books,  I  would 
often  be  interrupted  by  the  question,  asked  with 
irresistible  charm,  "Could  I  dictate  just  one  very 
important  letter.''"  or,  "I  think,  dear,  you  will  have 
to  get  a  paper  and  pencil  and  let  me  put  something 
down  that  must  be  done,  and  don't  you  forget." 

Her  last  "memorandum"  was  given  me  one  week 
before    her    home-going.     "Don't    fail    to    put    it 


266  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

down,"  she  began,  "that  I  have  always  recognized 
the  splendid  work  done  in  1874  by  the  women  of 
Washington  Court  House,  and  that  while  I  regard 
Hillsboro  as  the  cradle  of  the  Crusade,  Washington 
Court  House  is  the  crown,"  and  she  added, "  Fredonia 
must  always  be  remembered  as  the  home  of  the  first 
local  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union.  If 
I  don 't  get  well  you  must  send  some  souvenir  and  a 
message  of  special  remembrance  to  Mother  Thomp- 
son, and  to  all  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  pioneers." 

Speaking  with  her  usual  optimism  of  the  future 
of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  she 
said  earnestly:  "There  have  never  been  such 
women  as  our  white-ribboners;  so  large-minded,  so 
generous,  such  patriots,  such  Christians.  We  have 
had  a  great,  beautiful  past,  and  the  people  don't 
know  it;  they  think  we  are  fanatics.  It  has  been 
a  great  fight,  and  they  '11  never  know  what  we  have 
been  through.  Oh,  how  I  want  our  women  to  have 
a  new  concept  of  religion !  The  religion  of  the  world 
is  a  religion  of  love;  it  is  a  home  religion;  it  is  a 
religion  of  peace;  and  tell  them  —  tell  them  not  to 
forget  it  is  a  religion  of  patriotism.  We  have  set 
up  to  be  patriots,  we  white-ribboners,  and  we  have 
fought  amidst  much  ostracism.  Tell  our  white- 
ribboners  to  study  the  New  Testament.  I  love  the 
New  Testament.     No  human  being  has  ever  con- 


TRANSLATION  267 

ceived  as  he  should  what  the  New  Testament  means 
by  loyalty  to  Christ."  Later,  when  alone  with  this 
precious  friend,  she  pointed  to  a  picture  of  the 
Christ,  a  life-size  drawing  from  one  of  Hoffman's 
paintings;  This  was  a  Christmas  gift  from  Lady 
Henry  Somerset,  and  as  Miss  Willard  looked  lov- 
ingly toward  it  she  said:  "He  can  do  everything 
for  us." 

A  niece,  Mrs.  Katherine  Willard  Baldwin, 
brought  lilies  of  the  valley  to  her  aunt,  saying  as 
she  placed  them  in  her  hand,  "Here  are  some  of 
grandma's  flowers  for  you,  dear  Aunt  Frank." 
Beds  of  these  fragrant  lilies  used  to  nestle  close  to 
Rest  Cottage,  and  were  Mrs.  Willard 's  pride  and 
delight.  When  Katherine 's  sister  Mary  was  a  wee 
tot  she  was  asked  by  her  grandmother  one  Sunday 
morning  what  the  minister  had  preached  about. 
It  was  early  spring,  the  beautiful  lilies  were  in  full 
bloom,  and  the  sweet  child  responded,  "Why,  grand- 
ma, he  talked  about  the  lily  of  the  valley  of  the 
shadow."  As  our  best  beloved  held  the  flowers, 
her  face  brightened  and  she  murmured,  "Lilies  of 
the  valley  —  of  the  shadow."  Then,  though  we 
little  dreamed  it,  came  the  last  talk  with  one  of  her 
own  kindred,  which  included  loving  messages  to 
her  sister,  Mrs.  Mary  B,  Willard,  in  Berlin,  and  to 
each  of  the  nephews  and  nieces.  This  conversation 
reminded    Miss    Willard    of    Evanston    days,    and 


268  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

later  I  was  given  commissions  regarding  her  neigh- 
bors and  friends  in  the  old  home,  and  a  special 
message  to  her  dear  and  long-time  friend, 
Katherine  A.  Jackson.  Miss  Willard  lived  over 
the  Janesville  days  at  Forest  Home,  and  talked 
of  Rock  River  and  her  happy  childhood,  alluding 
also  in  loving  terms  to  relatives  in  her  birthplace, 
Churchville,  New  York,  while  the  poor,  weary  head 
tossed  incessantly  from  side  to  side.  Night  came, 
and  we  vainly  tried  to  quiet  her  sleep,  and  as  I  knelt 
beside  her  she  said,  "Sing,  'Hush,  My  Babe';  per- 
haps that  would  put  me  to  sleep."  I  sang  it  over 
and  over  until  I  heard  her  say,  "How  strange  it  is! 
I  should  think  that  would  make  me  sleep,  you  sing 
it  so  sweetly.  Suppose  you  try,  'Gently,  Lord.'" 
In  Rest  Cottage  days  that  was  a  favorite  hymn  at 
family  prayers,  and  one  morning,  long  ago,  she  had 
changed  the  second  line,  which  reads,  "Through 
this  gloomy  vale  of  tears,"  to  one  more  consonant 
with  her  concept  of  life,  "Through  this  vale  of  smiles 
and  tears,"  and  thus  I  sang  it  to  her  now.  On  reach- 
ing the  last  two  lines  I  could  not  recall  the  words. 
She  quickly  prompted  me  by  saying,  "Till,  by 
angel  bands,"  and  thinking  only  of  her,  I  finished 

the  hymn: 

"  Till,  by  angel  bands  attended, 
I  awake  among  the  blest." 

"Oh,  no,  not  I;  it's  we,  it's  always  we;  Christianity 
is  we,  not  I;  you    know   it's    our   Father,    don't 


TRANSLATION  269 

forget  that.  Now  sing  it  again,  please,  and  sing 
it  'we.'" 

Morning  dawned,  but  no  rest  beyond  a  few  mo- 
ments' unconsciousness  had  come  to  soothe  or  to 
restore.  Mrs.  Stevens  of  Maine  had  come  to  us 
several  days  before  in  response  to  my  earnest 
request,  and  early  this  morning  she  sat  for  a  few  mo- 
ments by  the  side  of  her  beloved  friend  and  comrade 
in  the  battles  of  the  Lord.  As  Miss  Willard  felt 
the  hand  laid  tenderly  upon  her  own  she  looked 
earnestly  into  "Stevie's"  face,  saying,  "I  felt  sure 
that  you  would  come." 

The  awful  fear  in  our  hearts  grew  more  intense  as 
evening  came.  Suddenly  Miss  Willard  gazed  in- 
tently on  the  picture  directly  opposite  her  bed.  Her 
eyes  seemed  to  meet  those  of  the  compassionate 
Christ,  and  with  the  old  eloquence  in  her  voice,  in 
the  stillness  of  that  never-to-be-forgotten  night  she 
exclaimed : 

"  *I  am  Merlin,  and  I  am  dying. 
But  I'll  follow  the  Gleam.' 

"I'm  getting  so  tired;  how  can  I  follow  it  much 
longer?  He  giveth  His  beloved  sleep,  but  oh,  some- 
times He  is  a  long  time  doing  it.  The  next  time 
you  read  '  De  Prof undis '  you  will  think  of  this  day, 
the  longest  and  hardest  of  my  whole  life.  Oh,  let 
me  go  away;  let  me  be  in  peace;  I  am  so  safe  with 
Him.     He  has  other  worlds,  and  I  want  to  go!     I 


270  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

have  always  believed  in  Christ;  He  is  the  incarnation 
of  God." 

Toward  morning  she  whispered,  "I  want  to  speak 
to  you  quite  alone,"  and  bending  near  her  to  catch 
every  faintly  uttered  word,  I  received  this  sacred 
message:  "I  want  to  say  what  Mary  and  I  used  to 
say  to  each  other  away  back  in  the  old  days  on  the 
farm  when  we  were  going  to  sleep.  I  would  say  to 
Mary,  'I  ask  your  pardon  and  I  thank  you,'  and  she 
would  say,  'I  freely  forgive  you  and  welcome,'  and 
then  we  would  change  about  with  the  same  sweet 
words  of  forgiveness  and  gratitude.  I  want  to  say 
that  to  you,  and  to  every  white-ribboner  and  to 
everybody." 

In  the  morning  she  rallied,  and  remembering  it 
was  the  day  for  "the  letter  from  home,"  as  she  called 
our  official  paper,  The  Union  Signal,  she  said,  "Please 
let  me  sit  up  and  let  me  have  our  beautiful  Signal" 
She  was  soon  laid  back  upon  the  pillows  and  seemed 
to  be  unconscious  when  a  friend  came  into  the  room. 
As  her  hand  was  quietly  touched  she  looked  up,  and 
recognizing  the  kind  face  of  her  comrade,  said  with 
a  faint  smile,  "I've  crept  in  with  mother  and  it  is 
the  same  beautiful  world  and  the  same  people; 
remember  that  —  it's  just  the  same." 

Quietly  as  a  babe  in  its  mother 's  arms  she  now  fell 
asleep,  and  though  we  knew  it  not  "the  dew  of 
eternity  was  soon  to  fall  upon  her  forehead."     "She 


TRANSLATION  271 

had  come  to  the  borderland  of  this  closely  curtained 
world!" 

Only  once  again  did  she  speak  to  us,  when  about 
noon  the  little,  thin,  white  hand  —  that  active, 
eloquent  hand  —  was  raised  in  an  effort  to  point 
upward,  and  we  listened  for  the  last  time  on  earth 
to  the  voice  that  to  thousands  has  surpassed  all 
others  in  its  marvelous  sweetness  and  magnetic 
power.  It  was  like  the  lovely  and  pathetic  strain 
from  an  ^olian  harp  on  which  heavenly  zephyrs 
were  breathing,  and  she  must  even  then  have  caught 
some  glimpse  of  those  other  worlds  for  which  she 
longed  as  she  said,  in  tones  of  utmost  content, 
"How  beautiful  it  is  to  be  with  God." 

As  twilight  fell,  hope  died  in  our  yearning  hearts, 
for  we  saw  that  the  full  glory  of  another  life  was 
soon  to  break  o'er  our  loved  one's  earthly  horizon. 
Kneeling  about  her  bed,  with  the  faithful  nurses  who 
had  come  to  love  their  patient  as  a  sister,  we  silently 
watched  while  the  life  immortal,  the  life  more  abun- 
dant, came  in  its  fullness  to  this  inclusive  soul,  whose 
wish,  cherished  from  her  youth,  that  she  might  go, 
not  like  a  peasant  to  a  palace,  but  as  a  child  to  her 
Father's  home,  was  about  to  be  fulfilled.  A  few 
friends  who  had  come  to  the  hotel  to  make  inquiries 
joined  the  silent  and  grief-stricken  group.  Slowly 
the  hours  passed  with  no  recognition  of  the  loved 
ones  about  her.     There  came  an  intent  upward  gaze 


272  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

of  the  heavenly  blue  eyes,  a  few  tired  sighs,  and  at 
the  "noon  hour"  of  the  night  Frances  Willard  was 

"Born  into  beauty 

And  born  into  bloom, 
Victor  immortal 
O'er  death  and  the  tomb." 

The  babe  Frances  could  not  sleep  without  the 
palm  of  her  tiny  hand  laid  upon  her  mother's  cheek; 
the  girl  Frances  lying  upon  the  grass  in  the  soft 
gathering  stillness  of  summer  twilight,  would  reach 
up  her  hand  beseechingly  for  God  to  touch;  the 
woman  Frances,  when  all  her  loved  ones  had  been 
transplanted  to  the  gardens  of  the  higher  life,  had 
followed  that  way  with  sublime  and  childlike  trust, 
greeting  her  glad  proof  of  immortality  with  the 
grandly  simple  words,  "How  beautiful  it  is  to  be 
with  God!" 

The  stillness  was  broken  only  by  sobs  as  we  closed 
the  earthly  eyes  of  one  who  was  always  a  seer,  and 
who  now  beheld  the  King  in  His  beauty  and  the 
land  that  she  so  often  said  is  not  far  off.  "Dear 
Father,  we  give  Thee  back  thine  own,"  the  prayer 
of  all  our  hearts,  was  tenderly  voiced  by  one  of  the 
stricken  group,  while  my  desolate  soul  responded, 
"And  we  thank  Thee  for  taking  her  so  gently." 

With  sublime  trust  the  broken-hearted  women 
clasped  hands  and  amid  their  tears  tried  to  sing  in 


TRANSLATION  273 

unison  with  the  great  white-ribbon  family  in  heaven 

and  earth: 

"  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds 
Our  hearts  in  Christian  love; 
The  fellowship  of  kindred  minds 
Is  like  to  that  above." 

An  hour  later  a  smile  of  joy  irradiated  the  sleep- 
ing face.  She  lay  at  the  close  of  her  life 's  long  day 
of  loving  toil  —  serene,  majestic,  supremely  beauti- 
ful. She  had  sown  many  harvests  of  happiness  for 
children  and  youth.  She  had  built  a  booth  in  the 
desert  for  pilgrims  weary  and  wounded.  She  had 
lifted  the  cup  of  cold  water  to  many  smitten  with 
life 's  fierce  heat,  and  had  seen  the  signal  swung  out 
from  the  heavenly  battlements  and  had  made  ready 
for  her  departure. 

Before  the  early  dawn,  we  carried  the  precious 
form  of  our  beloved  one  to  the  home  of  her  niece. 
"How  radiantly  beautiful  she  is,"  said  all  who  saw 
her;  "surely,  it  is  majestic  sweetness  that  enthrones 
her  brow."  Victory  as  well  as  the  peace  of  God 
was  in  her  looks,  and  so  natural  seemed  her  sleep 
that  Katherine's  little  son  sweetly  called  to  his 
aunt  as  he  was  lifted  up  to  look  at  her,  and  in  his 
baby  innocence  tried  to  awaken  her  that  she  might 
take  his  pretty  rose.  The  young  mother's  heart 
was  deeply  stirred,  and  she  said,  "Aunt  Frank  was 
just  a  dear,  sweet  baby  herself,  besides  being  the 
greatest  woman  in  all  the  world." 


274  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

Thousands  of  hearts  who  read  the  sad  tidings  in 
the  morning  papers  felt  a  sense  of  irreparable  loss 
and  personal  bereavement.  Cables,  telegrams,  let- 
ters, and  flowers  came  hourly  to  the  sorrowful  group 
at  the  hotel,  who,  because  of  the  great  love  they 
bore  her,  must  not  weep  —  but  work. 

"We  know  no  other  woman,"  said  Mary  Lowe 
Dickinson,  "whose  home-going  would  have  left  so 
many  other  women  feeling  as  if  the  sun  had  gone. 
And  we  know  no  other  out  of  all  the  many  noble 
women  of  our  land  whose  going  would  so  swiftly 
have  marshaled  the  thronging  stars.  No  one  could 
fail  to  feel,  as  that  brave  life  drifted  serenely  out 
beyond  the  sunset,  the  overwhelming  loss  and  gloom 
creeping  piteously  upon  the  great  hearts  that  loved 
her  and  the  great  work  that  she  loved.  The  bitter 
loss,  the  sore  hurt  to  both,  could  not  be  told  in 
words.  Genuine  grief  finds  refuge  in  silence;  real 
heartbreak  sobs  itself  out  to  God.  But  light 
broke  upon  this  shadow  when  from  East  and  West 
and  North  and  South  began  to  gather  the  brave  and 
tender  souls  that  through  many  years  had  shared 
Miss  Willard's  battles  for  humanity,  standing, 
some  lower,  some  higher  in  the  ranks,  yet  all  in  heart 
side  by  side  with  their  leader.  As  one  by  one,  or 
in  groups,  their  white,  tear-marked  faces  shone  out 
of  the  gloom,  we  saw  the  stars  arise;  we  knew  that 
however  human  hearts  might  ache  or  break.  Miss 


TRANSLATION  275 

Willard's  work  was  safe.  These  rallying  leaders, 
gathering  in  New  York  at  the  news  of  their  chief's 
departure,  were  representative  of  a  great  army, 
that  would  in  groups,  or  separately  and  alone,  glad- 
ly have  brought  to  their  great  leader  and  com- 
rade their  own  kind  tribute  of  loyal  and  sorrowing 
love." 

Each  day  quiet  groups  filled  the  hotel  parlors, 
where  tears  and  sobs  of  strong  men  mingled  with 
those  of  white-ribbon  comrades  and  personal 
friends,  as  they  sought  to  comfort  and  console  one 
another.  The  only  picture  that  adorned  the  walls 
of  the  room  from  which  went  home  the  blessed  spirit 
of  Saint  Frances  was  the  Christ  on  which  the  clos- 
ing eyes  had  rested,  and  just  below  this  on  the 
writing  desk  were  grouped  photographs  of  her  dear 
ones.  Bright,  fragrant  jflowers  gave  a  message  of 
joy  and  hope,  though  the  rain  had  not  ceased  to  fall 
and  the  storm  to  beat  against  the  windows  since 
that  winged  soul  had  taken  its  flight. 

There  came  to  our  thought  what  Bunyan  said 
of  the  end  of  the  long  battle  which  Christian  fought : 
*'Then,  said  Christian,  'I  am  going  to  my  Father's; 
and  though  with  great  difficulty  I  am  got  hither, 
yet  now  I  do  not  repent  of  all  the  trouble  I  have 
been  at  to  arrive  where  I  am.  My  sword  I  leave  to 
him  that  shall  succeed  me  in  my  pilgrimage,  and 
my  courage  and  skill  to  him  that  can  get  it.     My 


276  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

marks  and  scars  I  carry  with  me,  to  be  a  witness 
for  me  that  I  have  fought  His  battles  who  will  now 
be  my  rewarder,'  When  the  day  that  he  must  go 
hence  was  come,  many  accompanied  him  to  the 
river  side,  which  as  he  went  he  said,  'Death,  where 
is  thy  sting?'  and  as  he  went  down  deeper,  he  said, 
'Grave,  where  is  thy  victory?'  So  he  passed  over, 
and  all  the  trumpets  sounded  for  him  on  the  other 
side." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

MEMORIAL  SERVICES 

The  next  morning  in  the  home  of  her  loved  niece, 
in  the  heart  of  the  greatest  city  on  the  continent, 
in  the  state  in  which  her  ej^es  had  greeted  the  light 
of  earth,  Frances  E.  Willard  lay  in  her  last  sleep. 

Early  Sunday  afternoon,  leading  white-ribboners 
gathered  like  a  family  group  about  the  beloved 
form.  The  dear  one  drew  us  close  to  her  as  she  al- 
ways did  in  life.  Surely  we  could  fear  no  evil  if 
this  were  death.  Each  heart  received  its  own 
message,  and  to  all  she  seemed  to  say,  "Little  chil- 
dren, love  one  another."  Never  was  she  so  great, 
never  so  beautiful,  as,  "sceptered  and  robed  and 
crowned,"  she  lay  among  the  soft  linings  of  her 
silver-grey  casket,  whose  only  ornament  was  the 
broad  encircling  white  ribbon.  She  was  robed  in 
a  home  dress  of  softest  white;  her  fair  hair  was 
arranged  in  the  old  familiar  way;  the  "little  bow  of 
white"  was  not  hidden  by  the  floral  heart  of  lilies 
and  cape  jessamine  that  rested,  by  Lady  Henry 
Somerset's  request,  on  as  pure  a  heart  as  ever  went 
home  to  God.  Every  care-line  had  vanished  from 
her  madonna-like  face,  and  there  was  over  it  not 

277 


278  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

alone  the  hush  of  a  great  stillness,  but  the  awe  of 
an  infinite  wonder,  the  radiance  of  an  eternal  joy. 
The  flowers  of  earth  were  all  about  her,  and  the 
perfume  of  the  immortal  flowers  of  the  life  beyond 
seemed  to  fill  the  room  and  pervade  all  our  hearts. 
A  hymn  was  softly  sung,  and  Mrs.  Stevens  led  in  the 
Woman 's  Christian  Temperance  Union  benediction, 
which  was  followed  by  the  temperance  doxology. 

An  hour  later,  at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle — the 
church  in  which  the  voice  now  hushed  had  last 
spoken  in  New  York  City — the  vast  audience  rose, 
and  the  organ's  solemn  requiem  found  a  deep  re- 
sponse in  hundreds  of  sorrowing  hearts,  as  the  casket, 
draped  with  our  beloved's  favorite  white  silk  flag 
gleaming  with  golden  stars,  was  borne  into  the  church 
and  tenderly  placed  in  a  garden  of  heavenly  bloom. 
The  platform  and  chancel  of  the  shadowy  old  Taber- 
nacle had  been  transformed,  by  those  who  loved  her, 
into  a  tropical  bower  of  palms  and  bright  flowers. 

Rev.  Dr.  E.  S.  Tipple  conducted  the  simple 
funeral  service  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
assisted  by  Rev.  Dr.  A.  E.  Kittredge,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  S. 
MacArthur,  Rev.  Frederick  B.  Richards,  Rev.  Dr. 
Charles  L.  Thompson,  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  H.  Payne, 
and  Bishop  John  H.  Newman.  The  Bishop  offered 
this  prayer: 

Gracious  God,  Father  in  heaven,  forgive  us  if  we 
mourn  to-day  amid  this  general  grief;  but  we  thank 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES  279 

Thee  that  we  do  not  mourn  as  those  without  hope, 
for  Thou  hast  given  us  hope,  and  we  come  to  Thee 
with  thanksgiving  upon  our  lips  for  all  Thy  loving- 
kindness  unto  this  beloved,  whom  Thou  hast  taken 
unto  Thyself.  We  praise  Thee  for  her  parentage. 
We  thank  Thee  for  her  power,  for  her  imperial  in- 
tellect, for  that  vast  amount  of  useful  knowledge 
acquired  to  render  her  mission  efficient  and  success- 
ful, and  we  thank  Thee  above  all  things  for  her 
loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ  in  good  report  and  in  evil 
report,  for  her  philanthropy,  for  her  sympathy  with 
the  suffering  humanity  of  all  continents;  and  we 
bless  Thee  for  her  noble  convictions,  her  purpose  to 
elevate  the  race  to  sobriety  and  to  purity.  We  re- 
turn Thee  thanks  to-day  for  her,  we  bless  Thee  for 
our  association  with  her  in  the  great  reforms  of  life, 
for  the  sweet  influence  she  exerted  upon  us,  for  the 
noble  example  she  showed  before  others.  She  was 
steadfast  amid  all  trials,  and  we  rejoice  in  that  beau- 
tiful Christian  life  she  lived,  that  noble  heart,  that 
consecration  of  all  her  powers  to  Thee,  which  made 
her  to  have  but  one  object  in  view  —  to  do  Thy  will 
on  earth  as  the  angels  do  it  in  heaven,  and  to  glorify 
Thy  holy  Name.  And  we  bless  Thee  for  that  quiet 
death  that  Thou  didst  give  her,  that  she  might 
peacefully  fall  asleep  in  Jesus,  and  her  spirit  ascend 
to  Thee,  her  Creator  and  her  Redeemer.  Now  we 
ask  Thy  blessing  on  all  those  noble  enterprises  in 
which  she  was  engaged,  that  they  may  reach  a 
glorious  consummation.  Grant,  we  pray  Thee, 
that  this  cause  of  sobriety  which  she  pleaded  with 
such  eloquence,  and  of  personal  purity.  Christian 
purity  —  this  cause  of  temperance  —  may  become 


280  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

a  universal  fact.  May  the  governments  of  the  world 
put  forth  a  power  that  shall  restrain  inebriety ;  may 
the  legislatures  of  the  world  hasten  to  the  redemption 
of  humanity  from  all  the  evils  that  grow  out  of  in- 
temperance; and  we  pray  especially  that  Thy  bless- 
ing may  rest  upon  these  noble  women,  these  sisters 
that  are  banded  together,  consecrating  their  hearts 
and  their  lives  and  their  fortunes  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  these  great  purposes.  We  thank  Thee, 
though  our  departed  one  has  passed  from  life,  that 
she  yet  lives  in  thousands  of  lives,  lives  in  the 
thoughts,  the  affections,  the  aspirations  of  many. 
We  praise  Thee  for  this  corporate  immortality.  We 
pray  that  this  organization  which  she  represented 
may  be  under  Thy  guidance,  under  Thy  heavenly 
inspiration  until  the  great  work  shall  be  accom- 
plished. 

And  we  pray  especially  for  that  dear  woman  who 
was  her  traveling  companion  on  sea  and  land,  whose 
pen  was  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer;  and  bless  that 
precious  woman  beyond  the  seas,  the  companion  of 
our  departed  one,  who  is  to-day  thinking  of  this 
funeral  occasion.  May  that  noble  woman  be  sus- 
tained by  Thee . 

Hear  and  answer  us,  and  when  this  brief  life  is 
done,  may  it  be  well  done.  May  all  our  powers, 
having  been  consecrated  to  Thee,  attain  to  a  glorious 
consummation,  and  may  we  be  more  and  more  con- 
secrated to  those  great  interests  that  will  bring  about 
the  millennium  of  Thy  glory.  May  we  be  more  and 
more  the  instruments  of  Thy  Power,  so  that  at  last 
when  life  is  over  we  may  sleep  with  Jesus  and  meet 
this  precious  woman  and  the  thousands  who  have 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES  281 

gone  before,  and,  above  all,  Christ,  our  Lord.  And 
unto  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit  shall  be  the 
glory,  world  without  end.     Anicn. 

In  rich  tones  of  deep  emotion  and  earnestness, 
Mrs.  Lillian  M.  N.  Stevens,  Vice-President-at- 
Large  of  the  National  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union,  read  the  Ninetieth  Psalm.  Mrs. 
Mary  T.  Burt,  President  of  the  New  York  State 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  announced 
and  eloquently  read  the  hymn,  "Blest  be  the  tie 
that  binds  our  hearts  in  Christian  love,"  remind- 
ing white-ribboners  in  a  few  touching  words  of  the 
many  times  at  the  close  of  National  Conventions, 
that  with  hand  clasped  in  hand,  this  hymn  had  been 
sung  with  our  sainted  leader. 

In  closing  the  simple  and  fitting  service  in  memory 
of  a  great  soul.  Doctor  Tipple  said,  "The  highest 
tribute  we  can  pay  to  Frances  Willard  is  to  mention 
her  name,  sing  the  songs  she  loved,  and  pray  to  her 
God." 

"Was  ever  woman  so  beloved.''"  was  the  thought 
of  those  who  watched  for  hours  the  slow-moving  pro- 
cession of  rich  and  poor,  representing  many  sects, 
sections,  and  races,  who  reverently  looked  for  the 
last  time  upon  the  face  of  their  friend,  each  New 
York  white-ribboner  placing  a  white  carnation 
upon  the  casket. 

The  sad  journey  to  her  home  city,  Chicago,  was 


5S-2  FRANCES   E.  WILL.IRD 

made  in  a  special  car,  in  which  the  casket  was 
surrounded  by  flowers  and  guarded  by  lo^Tng  hearts. 
Stopping  briefly  at  Church%-ille,  New  York,  Miss 
Willard's  birthplace,  in  the  church  established  by 
her  grandfather,  lo\Tng  kinsfolk,  neighbors,  and 
comrades  of  Monroe  County  united  in  a  memorial 
ser^'ice  led  by  the  brotherly  pastors.  Mrs.  Helen 
M.  Barker,  Treasurer  of  the  National  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  represented  the 
white-ribboners  in  an  appropriate  address. 

At  Buffalo  a  large  delegation  of  white-ribboners 
who,  four  months  earlier,  had  joyfully  welcomed 
their  president  and  the  National  Convention,  passed 
sorrowfully  through  the  car,  leaving  "lilies  of  love 
and  loyalty"  and  singing  with  subdued  and  falter- 
ing voices, 

'"Some  day,  somewhere,  we  shall  know." 

Silently  the  snowflakes  fell,  surrounding  us  with 

a  white  world  as  we  carried  our  dear  one  homeward. 

Honored  representative  men  who  had  revered  ]Miss 

Willard,    received   us   at    the   station   in   Chicago. 

As  the  casket  was  slowly  and  reverently  raised  to 

the  shoulders  of  the  bearers,  and  borne  along  the 

tessellated  corridor  of  Willard  Hall,  which  her  feet 

had  so  often  trod,  it  was  preceded  by  a  guard  of 

honor  of  her  own  Illinois  women,  who  through  their 

tears  triumphantly  sang  the  old  Crusade  hymn, 

"Rock  of  ages,  cleft  for  me. 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  Thee." 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES  283 

The  flags  of  the  city  floated  at  half-mast  all  day, 
while  silently  the  people  passed  to  take  a  parting 
look  at  their  "great  citizen."  Said  The  Union 
Signal:  "  Chicago  has  never  seen  such  a  spontane- 
ous offering  as  the  multitude  laid  at  the  feet  of  our 
chieftain,  for  it  was  an  offering  of  love.  For  an 
hour  before  the  procession  reached  the  cross-sur- 
mounted portal  of  Willard  Hall,  there  were  crowds 
waiting  for  admission,  and  for  another  hour  they 
patiently  stood  on  the  wet  pavement,  with  the  cold 
wind  sweeping  in  sleety  gusts  against  them,  before 
they  gained  admittance.  During  the  day  more 
than  thirty  thousand  people  passed  down  the  aisle, 
each  pausing  for  a  moment  by  the  casket.  There 
were  children  lifted  in  their  parents'  arms;  there 
were  decrepit  men  and  women  who  leaned  upon 
their  sons  or  daughters  for  support;  many  hobbled 
in  on  crutches,  and  some  looked  as  if  they  might 
have  newly  risen  from  beds  of  sickness." 

At  the  noon  hour  a  brief  service  was  held  and 
many  tributes  were  given.  As  the  day  waned 
and  the  doors  were  to  be  closed.  Bishop  John  H. 
Vincent  besought  our  Heavenly  Father's  benediction, 
closing  with  these  words: 

We  give  thanks  for  the  life  of  our  departed  sister, 
for  her  loyalty  to  righteousness  and  purity,  for  the 
sweet  charity  that  burned  in  her  heart,  dwelt  in  her 
eyes,  and  went  forth  in  the  sweet  echoes  of  her  voice. 


284  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

We  pray  that,  inspired  by  her  example,  we  may  live 
the  same  strong  and  earnest  life  and  do  good  service 
in  the  cause  she  loved  so  well. 

At  Evanston,  where  hundreds  were  assembled  at 
the  station,  the  University  students  acted  as  escort, 
and  when  the  beloved  one  was  carried  into  dear 
Rest  Cottage,  her  young  relatives  softly  sang 
"Home,  Sweet  Home."  At  the  door  of  Rest 
Cottage  was  fastened  a  wreath  of  evergreen  gather- 
ed by  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union 
and  the  temperance  children  of  Oberlin,  Ohio,  from 
a  hedge  planted  by  Miss  Willard's  father,  and  in 
the  dainty  parlor  hung  a  cluster  of  evergreen  bear- 
ing this  card:  "Sweetbrier  that  Frank  planted, 
Janes ville,  Wisconsin."  Bright  flowers  filled  the 
bay  window,  and  friends  who  passed  quietly  in  and 
out  felt  that  the  room  breathed  the  heavenly  cheer 
always  associated  with  the  presence  of  those  who  had 
been  its  life. 

A  simple  home  service  the  next  morning  preceded 
the  one  at  the  church.  "How  Firm  a  Foundation" 
was  sung  to  the  Southern  lullaby  air  loved  by  Miss 
Willard.  Standing  beside  the  quiet  form  of  her 
friend  and  leader  Mrs.  Lillian  M.  N.  Stevens,  of 
Maine,  prayed  with  breaking  voice: 

Heavenly  Father,  come  near  and  tenderly  and 
pityingly  hover  over  us  at  this  hour.  We  thank 
Thee  for  the  precious  life  of  our  beloved  —  so  full 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES  285 

of  beauty  and  nobility.  Help  us  to  understand  what 
she  meant  when  she  said,  "How  beautiful  it  is  to  be 
with  God."  Help  us  to  know  more  of  that  other 
worldliness  of  which  she  .spoke  and  taught.  We 
thank  Thee  for  all  the  precious  memories  that  cluster 
around  Rest  Cottage;  for  the  life  of  Saint  Coura- 
geous; for  all  the  holy  influences  which  have  gone 
out  from  this  home.  Wilt  Thou  in  tender  love  bless 
the  niece  and  the  nephew  of  our  beloved  and  the  other 
family  members  who  are  with  us  to-day,  and  the 
absent  ones  wherever  they  may  be.  Wilt  Thou 
bless  and  comfort  the  one  who  has  been  to  our  pro- 
moted leader  helper,  companion,  more  than  friend, 
who  has  been  faithful  even  unto  death.  Wilt  Thou 
console  that  great  heart  over  the  sea  who  is  cast 
down  by  this  great  sorrow.  Remember  the  white- 
ribbon  sisterhood  everywhere.  Bless  the  world  — 
for  she  loved  the  whole  world.  We  humbly  pray 
in  the  name  of  Christ,  whom  she  loved  so  much  and 
served  so  loyally.     Amen. 

The  sweet  young  voices  of  the  quartette  were 
again  heard  as  the  soothing  words, 

"Gently,  Lord,  oh  gently  lead  us," 

floated  once  more  through  the  home,  and  the  bene- 
diction was  pronounced  by  the  venerable  Professor 
Emerson  of  Beloit,  Wisconsin,  in  these  words: 

Now  may  the  blessing  of  the  loving  Father  who 
has  called  the  dear  daughter  home,  and  of  the  lov- 
ing Brother  who  has  led  the  dear  sister  to  the  Fa- 
ther's house,  and  of  the  loving  Holy  Spirit  which 


286  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

was  the  breath  of  her  life  here,  and  is  so  there,  be 
and  abide  with  us  all,  that  we  may  be  now  and  for- 
ever with  the  Lord.     Amen. 

Reverent,  patient  thousands  gathered  in  and 
about  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of 
Evanston,  where  old  friends  and  dear  were  to  speak 
in  sacred  memory  of  the  exalted  life  of  their  own 
Frances  E.  Willard.  Love  had  outloved  itself  in 
lavish  expression  of  tenderness,  through  flower  and 
fern  and  palm  and  draperies  of  symbolic  white.  Be- 
hind the  pulpit  hung  a  large  silk  flag,  made  entirely 
by  women's  hands  and  carried  at  the  head  of  the 
dedicatory  procession  of  the  World's  Columbian 
Exposition  in  1892.  The  owner  of  the  flag  had 
affixed  an  inscription  which  read:  "This  flag  has 
traveled  over  four  thousand  miles  of  this  country, 
and  always  floats  in  the  interest  of  liberty,  peace 
and  arbitration.  It  floated  over  Miss  Willard  in 
life,  and  we  want  it  to  float  over  her  in  death." 
The  "religion  of  patriotism"  also  shone  forth  in  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  that  floated  from  the  organ  loft 
and  draped  the  speakers '  chairs  —  our  sacred  flag, 
of  which  she  wrote : 

"With  its  red  for  love,  and  its  white  for  law. 
And  its  blue  for  the  hope  that  our  fathers  saw 
Of  a  larger  liberty." 

At  this  Methodist  altar  Frances  Willard  had  knelt 
alone  in  the  presence  of  her  fellow-students  and 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES  287 

dedicated  her  young  life  to  the  highest  ideals.  Now, 
hundreds  of  students  filled  the  galleries  and  stood 
in  the  aisles  to  do  honor  to  one  who  called  herself 
their  "elderly  sister,"  and  whose  glorious  and  God- 
like career  they  desired  to  emulate. 

The  Willard  pew,  held  by  the  family  for  over 
thirty  years,  was  draped  with  white  and  filled  with 
floral  offerings. 

The  words  of  the  solemn  processional  were  read 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Frank  M.  Bristol,  pastor  of  the  church. 
Following  him  came  the  faculty  of  the  Northwestern 
University,  President  Henry  Wade  Rogers  at  their 
head,  and  the  pastors  of  the  Evanston  churches. 
The  casket  was  borne  by  six  students  of  the  college. 
Honorary  pallbearers.  General  Officers  of  the  Na- 
tional Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  the 
White  Ribbon  Guard  of  Honor,  relatives  and  closest 
friends  came  slowly  after.  Miss  Willard 's  nearest 
relatives  present  being  Mrs.  Katherine  Willard 
Baldwin,  of  New  York,  and  Robert  A.  Willard,  of 
Florida,  daughter  and  son  of  her  brother  Oliver. 

"I  wonder  if  she  knows.'*"  was  the  unspoken 
question  of  many  a  heart,  as  the  casket  was 
placed  before  the  altar,  amid  such  a  scene  of  beauty 
as  even  the  one  to  whom  it  was  consecrated  had 
rarely  seen  in  life.  The  casket  rested  on  a  rug  of 
roses  and  violets,  and  forming  a  radiant  arch  over 
the   beloved   sleeper   was   a   rainbow   of   spring's 


288  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

blossoms  —  a  bow  of  promise  shining  through  the 
clouds.  She  has  gone  beyond  the  glory  of  the  rain- 
bow, but  the  "everlasting  covenant"  remains. 
Beneath  the  rainbow,  and  caught  away  from  the 
casket  by  a  hovering  dove,  was  a  broad  white  rib- 
bon bearing  in  silver  letters  these  words — the  last 
spoken  on  earth,  and,  may  it  not  be,  the  first  enrap- 
tured cry  of  the  soul  set  free  from  mortality?  — 
"How  beautiful  it  is  to  be  with  God." 

Bishop  Bowman  offered  prayer,  and  the  choir  sang 
Tennyson's  immortal  ode,  "Crossing  the  Bar." 

President  Rogers  was  the  first  speaker,  taking 
for  his  theme,  "Miss  Willard  as  a  University 
Woman  and  an  Educator."  Mrs.  Louise  S.  Rounds, 
President  of  the  Illinois  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union,  spoke  of  " Miss  Willard  as  a  Patriot." 
Rev.  Dr.  Bristol  read  the  "Crusade  Psalm,"  and 
never  did  its  anthem  of  praise  and  prophecy  seem 
more  harmonious  with  events.  The  congregation 
sang  as  best  it  could — for  voices  choked  with  tears 
—  the  Crusade  Hymn, 

"Give  to  the  winds  thy  fears, 
Hope  and  be  undismayed." 

Mrs.  Clara  C.  Hoffman  bore  witness  to  "Miss 
Willard  as  a  Leader,"  and  Mrs.  Katharine  Lent 
Stevenson  spoke  of  "Miss  Willard  as  a  Friend." 
It  was  touching  and  peculiarly  significant  when 
Miss    Johannsdottir,    President    of     the    Iceland 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES  289 

Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  in  broken 
accent  and  with  breaking  heart,  gave  her  simi)le 
testimony  to  our  leader's  love  for  other  lands. 
"Through  her,  women  all  the  world  over  are 
sisters,"  she  said.  "Over  her  grave  we  can  stretch 
our  hands  to  each  other  and  make  our  life  as  she 
hoped  we  might  make  it,  and  so  carry  her  work  on." 

Dr.  Milton  S.  Terry  of  the  Garrett  Biblical 
Institute  contributed  an  exquisite  poem.  Rev. 
C.  J.  Little,  D.  D.,  late  president  of  the  Garrett 
Biblical  Institute,  made  an  address  on  the  subject 
of  "Miss  Willard's  Public  Life."  Rev.  Charles 
F.  Bradley  D.  D.,  then  Professor  of  New  Testament 
Exegesis  of  the  Garrett  Biblical  Institute,  in  the 
closing  address  spoke  of  "  Miss  Willard  as  a  Woman 
and  a  Friend." 

A  prayer  of  benediction  by  the  pastor,  Dr.  Bristol, 
closed  this  service  in  memory  of  the  last  of  an  honor- 
ed and  beloved  household  —  a  home  circle  among  the 
earliest  to  form  in  Evanston  —  and  the  classic  town 
forgot  all  else  in  its  desire  to  pay  the  last  loving  trib- 
ute of  profound  respect  to  its  most  gifted  daughter. 
At  the  cemetery  —  beautiful  Rosehill,  its  pure  white 
covering  of  snow  dazzling  in  the  sunshine  —  the 
receiving  vault  was  faced  with  evergreen,  and 
branches  of  the  same  emblem  of  immortal  life  made 
warm  and  soft  the  pathway  to  the  entrance.  Those 
who  were  able  to  leave  Rosehill  with  lifted  faces 


290  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

were  greeted  with  the  glory  of  the  setting  sun.  In 
the  far  sky  hung  a  rainbow;  with  us  there  had  been 
no  storm,  only  the  gentle  rain  that  had  fallen  from 
sad  eyes.  Was  that  bow  of  promise  sent  to  cheer 
and  comfort?  Let  us  take  it  as  a  message  from 
Him  and  from  her  to  look  up,  not  down. 

On  April  ninth,  1898,  at  Graceland  cemetery, 
three  miles  distant  from  Rosehill,  Miss  Willard's 
wish  in  regard  to  the  disposition  of  the  "earthly 
house  of  her  tabernacle"  was  sacredly  fulfilled. 
Drawing  near  to  them  in  confiding  frankness  of 
self-revelation.  Miss  Willard  had  told  her  friends 
and  the  whole  world  in  her  autobiography  why  she 
chose  the  luminous  path  of  light  rather  than  the 
dark,  slow  road  of  the  "valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,"  stating  her  personal  convictions  on  the  sub- 
ject in  these  words: 

"Holding  these  opinions,  I  have  the  purpose  to 
help  forward  progressive  movements  even  in  my 
latest  hours,  and  hence  hereby  decree  that  the  earth- 
ly mantle  which  I  shall  drop  ere  long,  when  my  real 
self  passes  onward  into  the  world  unseen,  shall  be 
swiftly  enfolded  in  flames  and  rendered  powerless 
harmfully  to  affect  the  health  of  the  living.  Let 
no  friend  of  mine  say  aught  to  prevent  the  cremation 
of  my  cast-off  body.  The  fact  that  the  popular 
mind  has  not  come  to  this  decision  renders  it  all  the 
more  my  duty,  who  have  seen  the  light,  to  stand  for 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES  291 

it  in  death  as  I  have  sincerely  meant  in  life  to  stand 
by  the  great  cause  of  poor  oppressed  humanity. 
There  must  be  explorers  along  all  pathways, 
scouts  in  all  armies.  This  has  been  my  'call' 
from  the  beginning,  by  nature  and  by  nurture;  let 
me  be  true  to  its  inspiriting  and  cheery  mandate 
even  unto  this  last." 

On  Sunday  afternoon,  April  tenth,  amid  the  Easter 
sunshine,  a  hushed  and  reverent  company  gathered 
at  the  Willard  lot  in  Rosehill  cemetery.  The  grave 
of  Miss  Willard 's  mother  was  opened,  the  sides  lined 
with  evergreens,  the  mound  of  earth  also  hidden  by 
green  boughs.  As  the  sacred  ashes  were  literally 
committed  to  the  precious  dust  beneath  them,  they 
mingled  with  white  roses,  above  which  were  placed 
sprays  of  evergreen,  sent  from  the  birthplaces  of  Miss 
Willard 's  parents,  of  her  brother  and  sister,  arid  of 
herself,  and  from  Forest  Home  and  Rest  Cottage; 
then  all  was  made  radiant  with  bright  blossoms, 
emblems  of  the  glorious  springtime.  A  moss- 
covered  box,  fragrant  with  lilies  of  the  valley  and 
pansies,  and  which  had  held  a  precious  inner  box  of 
purest  white,  was  placed  over  the  mother's  heart. 
Surrounding  the  whole,  in  beauty  and  fragrance, 
were  the  floral  tributes  of  friends,  and  thus  Frances 
Willard,  that  great  woman  w^ho  never  lost  her  child- 
hood, at  last  "crept  in  with  mother." 

The  white  silk  banner  which  had  draped  the  casket 


£95  FR-\^'CES  E.  ^TLL-\RD 

nestled  close  to  the  stone  which  bore  the  name  of 
"Saint  Courageous."'  The  soft  gray  clouds  drift- 
ing across  the  blue  of  an  April  sky  seemed  to  pause, 
hovering  over  that  open  grave.  High  above  it 
swang  the  bough  of  an  old  oak,  from  which  fluttered 
down  a  few  brown  and  wrinkled  leaves,  as  if  eager  to 
share  the  Easter  bloom.  A  maple,  mossy  with 
bursting  buds,  and  a  soft  wind,  sighing  in  the  leaves 
of  a  solemn  pine,  seemed  each  to  whisper  a  promise 
to  guard  the  sacred  spot.  Upon  the  blessed  hush 
broke  the  soft  music  of  the  hymn  so  often  sung  at 

Rest  Cottage, 

"  There  is  a  land  of  pure  delight. 
Where  saints  immortal  dwell."' 

Rev.  Dr.  Waters,  pastor  of  the  Emmanuel  Meth- 
odist Church,  of  Evanston,  repeated  the  Twenty- 
third  PsaLm,  and  offered  a  heartfelt  prayer.     Then 

again  the  music  rose: 

"  There  are  lonely  hearts  to  cherish. 
While  the  days  are  going  by." 

The  hjTnn  went  on  until 

"  Let  your  face  be  like  the  morning. 
While  the  days  are  going  by,"' 

floated  out  above  the  rustle  of  the  last  year's  leaves 
and  the  whisper  of  the  pines.  And  more  than  one 
bowed  face  was  lifted  with  the  look  of  high  resolve 
that  showed  the  breaking  of  the  morning  on  the  soul. 
Rev.  Dr.  Milton  S.  Tern.'  prefaced  the  solemn 
burial  service  with  the  following  appropriate  address : 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES  293 

It  has  seemed  fitting  and  beautifid  to  select  the 
holy  Easter  day  on  which  to  discharge  the  last  office 
of  affection  and  duty  to  our  honored  dead.  And 
inasmuch  as  it  has  pleased  our  Heavenly  Father  to 
take  to  himself  the  spirit  of  our  beloved  sister,  we 
bring  that  which  was  mortal  to  the  hallowed  spot 
where  the  loved  forms  of  her  father  and  mother  and 
sister  and  brother  have  been  peacefully  waiting  for 
her  coming.  We  do  here  recall  how  she  told  us, 
while  she  was  with  us  in  her  mortal  form,  that  since 
the  far  June  day  when  her  sister  Mary  went  to  dwell 
with  God,  the  world  invisible  had  been  to  her  the 
only  real  world.  Now  has  she  herself  passed  on  to 
see  and  know  the  things  invisible. 

So  on  this  blessed  day  of  the  springtide,  when  the 
birds  are  singing  and  the  flowers  she  loved  are  burst- 
ing into  bloom,  we  bring  the  sacred  treasure  of  her 
dust  and  place  it  by  the  fond  mother,  to  whom  she 
was  wont  to  cling  —  not  in  childhood  only  at  Forest 
Home,  but  also  in  life's  serene  meridian,  when  she 
was  giving  all  her  strength  to  repeat  her  sister's 
message  to  the  world,  and  tell  everybody  to  be  good. 
She  wandered  far,  and  her  voice  has  been  heard  by 
thousands  of  thousands  in  distant  lands;  and  now 
at  last,  worn  out  with  many  toils  in  loyal  service  to 
the  best  Friend  that  woman  ever  knew,  she  hath 
lain  down  to  sleep  as  if  nestling  once  more  in  the 
bosom  of  the  mother  whom  she  trusted  as  the  guard- 
ian angel  of  her  early  and  her  later  life. 

We  are  tearful  at  her  tomb,  but  we  comfort  one 
another  with  the  thought  that  our  Lord  Jesus  wept 
at  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  where  Mary  and  Martha 
were  wont  to  go  and  weep;  and  like  all  those  who 


294  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

know  the  power  of  His  resurrection,  we  sorrow  not 
as  others  sorrow  who  have  no  hope.  "For  we  know 
that  if  the  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  be  dis- 
solved we  have  a  building  from  God,  a  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  For  our 
light  affliction,  which  is  for  the  moment,  worketh 
for  us  a  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory; 
while  we  do  not  look  at  the  things  which  are  seen, 
but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen;  for  the  things 
which  are  seen  are  temporal,  but  the  things  which 
are  not  seen  are  eternal." 

After  the  Gloria  Patria  and  the  benediction,  which 
was  pronounced  by  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  F.  Bradley, 
of  the  Garrett  Biblical  Institute,  Evanston,  and  the 
gentle  covering  of  the  grave  in  the  soft,  warm 
garment  of  friendly  earth,  the  friends  came  one 
by  one  and  spread  over  it  their  gifts  of  flowers  until 
the  precious  mound  was  one  fragrant  mantle  of 
Easter  bloom. 

She  had  often  said,  "When  I  pass  onward  to  the 
world  invisible  please  do  not  say,  'she  is  dead,'  but 
rather  remember  that  I  have  entered  upon  the 
activities  that  are  not  succeeded  by  weariness.*' 
Gazing  up  steadfastly  into  the  heavens,  longing  to 
follow  her  into  the  "sweet,  the  strange  Beyond," 
we  hear  her  beloved  voice  cheering  us  on:  "Pro- 
tect   the    Home!     Hold    the    Light    up    Higher! 

Higher ! 

"  'Help  your  fallen  brother  rise 
WMle  the  days  are  going  by.'  " 


STATUE 

(designed    by    HELEN   FARNSWORTH    MEARs) 
STATUARY   HALL,    THE   CAPITOL,    WASHINGTON,    D.  C. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 

(There  is  no  state  in  the  republic  where  the  name 
of  Frances  E.  Willard  docs  not  blossom  like  a  famil- 
iar flower,  no  country  in  the  world  that  has  not 
occasion  to  bless  her  birth.  Her  name,  to  use  Mil- 
ton's  well-known  phrase,  is  "writ  large"  in  the  an- 
nals of  her  time.  A  nature  with  such  variety  of 
gifts,  such  combinations  of  excellences,  drew  to  her 
side  not  only  those  committed  to  the  reforms  and 
philanthropies  for  which  she  particularly  stood,  but 
all  lovers  of  humanity. 

How  far  her  candle  threw  its  beams  was  manifest- 
ed even  more  clearly  after  she  had  passed  from  earth. 
Children  were  named  in  her  memory,  fountains 
inscribed  with  her  name  poured  forth  their  pure 
streams,  memorials  were  placed  in  churches  and 
philanthropic  halls,  institutions  bore  her  name,  her 
picture  was  repeated  in  thousands  of  halls  and 
schoolrooms,  libraries,  hospitals,  and  homes,  and 
her  statue  or  bust  was  set  East  and  West,  in  places 
of  honor  and  dignity.]  Statues  to  commemorate 

women  are  yet  few  in  our  land.     A  bust  to  Maria 

295 


296  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

Mitchell  adorns  the  fagade  of  Vassar  Observatory, 
a  relief  of  Alice  Freeman  Palmer  forms  a  part  of  the 
beautiful  monument  to  her  memory  in  Houghton 
Memorial  Chapel  at  Wellesley  College,  where  also, 
in  College  Hall,  stands  the  portrait  statue  of  Harriet 
Martineau.  In  New  Orleans  there  is  a  statue  of 
Margaret  Haughery;  in  Haverhill,  one  to  Hannah 
Dustin,  repeated  at  Pennacook;  Troy,  New  York, 
has  one  to  Emma  Willard;  Canterbury,  Conn.,  to 
Prudence  Crandall;  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
is  one  to  Elizabeth  Fry. 

I  By  an  act  of  the  Congress  of  1864,  each  state  of 
the  Union  was  asked  to  place  in  Statuary  Hall  at 
the  National  Capitol  two  statues.  These  were 
to  be  chosen  from  her  most  illustrious  deceased 
citizens  and  to  be  executed  in  marble  or  bronze. 
Illinois  has  the  distinguished  honor  of  placing  there 
the  first  statue  to  a  woman.  Because  she  was  pre- 
eminently a  patriot  as  well  as  a  reformer,  that  state 
wisely  chose  Frances  E.  Willard  to  represent  her  in 
our  Valhalla  of  American  heroes.  There  she  now 
stands  as  she  stood  in  life,  peerless,  heroic,  represent- 
ing the  womanhood  of  America.  This  beautiful  mar- 
ble, a  trifle  above  life-size,  is  the  work  of  the  sculptor 
Helen  F.  Mears,  of  Wisconsin.  It  represents  the 
platform  pose  of  Miss  Willard  with  absolute  fidelity. 
The  pedestal  bears  this  inscription  in  Miss  Willard 's 
memorable  words: 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      297 

Ah,  it  is  women  who  have  given  the  costHest 
hostages  to  fortune.  Out  into  the  battle  of  life 
they  have  sent  their  best  beloved,  with  fearful  odds 
against  them.  Oh,  by  the  dangers  they  have  dared; 
by  the  hours  of  patient  waiting  over  beds  where 
helpless  children  lay;  by  the  incense  of  ten  thousand 
prayers  wafted  from  their  gentle  lips  to  Heaven,  I 
charge  you  to  give  them  power  to  protect  along 
life's  treacherous  highway  those  whom  they  have 
so  loved.  — Frances  E.  Willard. 

On  February  seventeenth,  nineteen  hundred 
five,  the  regular  business  of  the  National  Congress 
was  suspended  for  the  function  of  receiving  and 
dedicating  this  statue.  It  was  a  day  unprecedented 
and  unrepeatable  in  the  Congressional  Halls,jand 
well  might  it  be  called  the  apothebsis  of  Frances  E. 
Willard.  The  late  venerable  Edward  Everett  Hale, 
who  once  remarked  that  there  were  two  annual 
messages  he  never  failed  to  read,  the  President's 
to  Congress  and  Miss  Willard 's  to  her  constituency, 
opened  the  Senate  exercises  with  appropriate  Scrip- 
ture reading  and  prayer,  and  in  the  House,  prayer 
was  offered  by  the  Chaplain,  Rev.  Henry  N.  Cou- 
den,  D.  D.  Then  followed  the  reading  of  the 
formal  letter  of  presentation  from  Governor  Deneen 
of  Illinois,  and  addresses  by  Senators  Shelby  M. 
Cullom  and  Albert  J.  Hopkins  of  Illinois,  Jonathan 
P.  Dolliver  of  Iowa,  and  Albert  J.  Beveridge  of 
Indiana;    and   in   the  House,   by  Representatives 


298  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

George  E.  Foss,  Henry  T.  Rainey,  and  Joseph  V. 
Graff  of  Illinois,  Charles  E.  Littlefield  of  Maine, 
and  Franklin  E.  Brooks  of  Colorado  J 

Brief  excerpts  from  these  eloquent  addresses  are 
here  given: 


Hon.  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  Illinois 

Mr.  President  :  The  State  of  Illinois  presents  to 
the  United  States  the  statue  of  a  great  woman, 
whose  name  is  familiar  wherever  the  English 
language  is  spoken. 

The  Senate  has  frequently  suspended  its  ordinary 
business  to  pay  tribute  to  the  memory  of  eminent 
statesmen  who  have  passed  away.  For  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  Senate  a  day  has  been  set 
apart  that  we  may  talk  of  a  woman.  Illinois  has 
been  the  home  of  many  eminent  men,  yet,  with  so 
large  a  number  of  splendid  men  from  whom  to  make 
a  selection,  the  State  of  Illinois  selected  a  woman 
thus  so  signally  to  honor.  Mr.  President,  Miss 
Willard  was  a  worthy  representative  of  her  sex, 
known  to  the  world  for  her  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
temperance,  and  for  her  efforts  in  the  interest  of  the 
human  race.  The  Willards  were  noted  men  and 
women  of  New  England  before  and  during  the 
Revolution.  Her  parents  were  brave,  honest,  intel- 
lectual, strong-minded,  patriotic  Christian  people. 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      299 

Mr.  President,  I  esteem  it  an  honor  to  have  known 
personally  Frances  E.  Willard  during  the  greater 
part  of  her  active  life.  I  knew  from  personal  knowl- 
edge of  the  work  in  which  she  was  engaged,  and  I 
witnessed  with  pleasure  the  wonderful  success  which 
attended  her  efforts.  She  was  a  reformer,  but  she 
never  shared  the  usual  impopularity  of  reformers, 
and  her  advocacy  of  reform  in  temperance  never 
made  her  offensive  to  any  class  of  people.  Not- 
withstanding her  public  life,  she  was  nevertheless  a 
real  woman,  with  that  degree  of  sincerity  and 
modesty  that  commanded  the  utmost  respect  from 
all  with  whom  she  came  in  contact. 

Mr.  President,  I  am  proud  that  the  State  of  Illinois 
was  the  home  of  Frances  E.  Willard. 

Seven  years  ago  to-morrow,  the  18th  of  February, 
1898,  the  sad  news  announced  that  she  was  no  more. 
It  seemed  that  the  world  stopped  to  mourn.  No 
man  or  woman  of  her  time  received  such  splendid 
eulogy,  not  only  from  those  engaged  in  her  cause, 
not  only  from  those  who  believed  in  her  creed,  but 
from  the  best  representatives  of  all  classes  and  of 
all  religions. 

The  world  is  better  because  Frances  E.  Willard 
lived.  She  devoted  her  life  unselfishly  to  the 
cause  of  humanity,  and  she  brought  sobriety  into 
the  homes  of  untold  thousands;  and  at  her 
death  she  left  an  organization  that  has  been,  and 


300  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

will  continue  to  be,  a  potent  factor  for  good  in 
the  world. 

Mr.  President,  the  State  of  Illinois,  in  presenting 
the  statue  to  the  United  States,  to  be  placed  in 
Statuary  Hall  among  the  figures  of  the  greatest  men 
that  have  lived  in  the  United  States,  has  honored 
itself,  has  justly  honored  a  great  woman,  and  has 
paid  a  tribute  to  all  American  womanhood. 


Hon.  Albert  J.  Hopkins,  Illinois 

Mr.  President:  When  the  late  Senator  Morrill, 
of  Vermont,  proposed  to  dedicate  the  old  Hall  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  as  a  national  Statuary 
Hall,  for  the  purpose  of  authorizing  each  of  the 
States  of  the  Union  to  place  therein  statues  of  de- 
ceased persons  who  had  been  citizens  of  such  State 
and  illustrious  for  their  historic  renown,  or  for  distin- 
guished civic  or  military  service,  he  little  dreamed 
that  the  great  State  of  Illinois  in  complying  with 
that  statute  would  select  for  one  of  her  citizens  a 
woman,  in  the  person  of  Frances  E.  Willard. 

She  was  then  a  young  woman.  Her  great  future 
had  hardly  opened  before  her.  She  little  dreamed 
at  that  period  of  her  life  that  she  would  attain  that 
civic  distinction  or  historic  renown  that  would 
warrant  Illinois  in  selecting  her  as  one  of  its  repre- 
sentatives in  Statuary  Hall. 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      301 

The  years  that  have  come  and  gone  since  the  late 
Senator  Morrill  caused  that  law  to  be  placed  upon 
the  statute  books  of  our  country,  saw  Miss  Willard 
advance  step  by  step  from  the  most  humble  begin- 
nings until  her  fame  became  not  only  national,  but 
world-wide.  Her  services  to  her  sex  and  to  human- 
ity extended  to  every  part  of  the  civilized  world, 
and  when  death  claimed  her,  and  her  noble  spirit 
passed  into  immortality,  an  enlightened  and  patri- 
otic legislature  of  the  State  of  Illinois  selected  her 
as  worthy  of  a  place  in  Statuary  Hall,  dedicated  by 
the  several  States  to  the  most  eminent  and  distin- 
guished of  all  their  sons. 

When  Miss  Willard  put  aside  the  work  of  the 
schoolroom  and  entered  the  arena  of  the  lecture 
platform  in  the  cause  of  temperance  and  the  purity 
of  women,  she  entered  the  limelight  of  publicity, 
in  which  she  remained  during  all  the  years  of  her 
great  work  in  this  and  other  countries.  She  did  not 
escape  the  envious  tongues  of  detractors,  nor  the 
sharp  thrusts  of  keen  critics.  She  undertook  tasks 
which  to  the  average  person  would  seem  insurmount- 
able, but  to  her  were  only  incidents  in  the  career 
which  she  had  marked  out  before  her.  Her  labors, 
her  successes,  and  her  achievements  have  been  elo- 
quently portrayed  here  to-day  by  those  who  have 
preceded  me.  It  is  enough  for  me  to  note  that  no 
man  or  woman  of  her  time  wrought  better  or  accom- 


302  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

plished  more  for  the  protection  and  upbuilding  of  her 
sex  and  the  cause  of  temperance.  The  endearments 
of  home  and  the  quiet  of  her  fireside  were  sacrificed  in 
the  interest  of  the  unfortunate  among  both  men  and 
women.  Her  great  soul  carried  her  activities  be- 
yond state  and  national  lines,  and  led  her  to  help 
the  unfortunate  in  all  countries  and  all  climes. 

Her  gentleness  of  heart,  her  charity,  her  firmness 
of  principle,  and  her  attractive  personality  made  her 
a  power  that  attracted  to  her  the  good  women  and 
men  of  this  and  other  countries,  and  enabled  her 
to  accomplish  a  work  that  has  placed  her  name 
high  on  the  list  of  the  famous  women  of  the  world. 
The  work  that  she  inaugurated  is  going  on,  and  will 
continue  in  augmented  strength  and  influence  so 
long  as  time  lasts. 

It  is  not  strange,  then,  Mr.  President,  that  the 
people  of  Illinois  should  desire  to  see  such  a  life  and 
such  a  character  especially  honored.  Her  services 
have  been  world-wide.  The  cause  to  which  she 
dedicated  her  life  reaches  all  humanity.  The  ability 
with  which  she  prosecuted  this  Hfe-work  places  her 
among  the  most  eminent  intellects  of  our  generation. 
She  possessed  all  the  qualities  of  organization  which 
have  made  such  men  as  Marshall  Field,  Morgan, 
and  Carnegie  multimillionaires;  a  genius  which  in 
military  affairs  would  have  made  a  general  of  the 
first  rank;  legislative  qualities  which  in  the  statesman 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE     303 

would  have  made  his  name  historical;  oratorical 
abilities  which  have  made  such  men  as  Beechcr  and 
Spurgeon  immortal,  and  a  charity  which  was  heaven- 
born. 

Illinois  in  honoring  Frances  E.  Willard  to-day, 
by  placing  her  statue  in  yonder  hall,  has  honored 
herself  and  the  wpmen  of  our  State  and  country. 


Hon.  Jonathan  P.  Dolliver,  Iowa 

Mr.  President:  There  has  been  witnessed  in  the 
Capitol  to-day  a  scene  the  like  of  which  has  never 
taken  place  before — thousands  of  children  covering 
a  statue  with  flowers,  and  thousands  of  women 
standing  before  it  in  silence  and  in  tears. 

One  by  one  the  vacant  spaces  in  Statuary  Hall 
have  been  chosen  by  the  States  entitled  to  them, 
until  now  these  solemn  figures  stand  close  together 
like  a  family  reunion  of  the  great  ones  of  the  earth. 
Statesmen  and  orators  are  there,  secure  in  their 
renown.  Soldiers  are  there,  with  sword  in  hand. 
Inventors  are  there,  whose  ingenuity  gave  practical 
ideas  to  the  world;  and  priests  to  bless  them  all 
with  the  benediction  of  their  holy  office. 

We  are  met  to-day  to  put  in  place  another  pedes- 
tal; to  accept  another  statue  donated  by  the  people 
to  the  nation.  It  is  brought  here  by  a  State  rich 
in  the  household  treasures  of  its  biography,  yet  the 


304  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

great  commonwealth  brings  here,  with  reverence 
and  pride,  a  work  of  art  so  full  of  gentleness  and 
grace  that  all  the  illustrious  company  about  it  seem 
to  bow  with  stately  ceremony  before  the  white 
figure  of  this  elect  daughter  of  Illinois  —  Frances 
E.  Willard. 

Lord  Macaulay  said  of  John  Wesley  that  he  was 
one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  of  his  time.  What  did 
he  mean  by  that?  He  meant  that  in  addition  to 
his  preaching  the  Word  he  created  an  institution, 
compact  and  effective  in  its  methods,  which  went  on 
long  after  he  was  gone,  in  the  execution  of  the 
beneficent  designs  which  were  in  his  heart.  Exact- 
ly the  same  thing  can  be  said  for  Frances  E.  Willard. 
And  she  owed  to  that  organization  possibly  more 
even  than  she  knew,  because  the  position  which  she 
held  in  it  made  her  oflfice  a  central  bureau  to  which 
reports  were  made  of  the  moral  and  intellectual 
signs  of  the  times;  and  no  man  can  read  her  annual 
messages  to  the  organization  of  which  she  was  the 
executive  head  without  perceiving  that  she  had  a 
strong  grasp  of  all  the  great  social  and  moral  prob- 
lems of  our  time;  a  grasp  so  strong  that  to-day  her 
words  seem  often  like  prophecies  fulfilled,  where 
twenty  years  ago  they  hardly  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world. 

I  think  the  highest  point  in  the  public  career  of  the 
late  Senator  Hanna  was  that  last  speech  of  his  before 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      305 

a  meeting  of  laboring  men  and  capitalists  belonging 
to  the  Civic  Federation  in  New  York.  Stand- 
ing there,  without  any  pretensions  to  piety  or 
sanctity  of  any  sort,  he  laid  down  the  proposition, 
based  on  a  long  experience  as  a  laborer  and  an 
employer,  and  on  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  leaders  of  political  thought  in  all  parties,  that 
the  rights  of  labor  and  the  rights  of  capital  can 
never  be  established  on  a  lasting  basis  of  justice 
except  as  both  bow  in  loyal  obedience  to  the  law  of 
Christ.  Frances  E.  Willard  had,  for  twenty  years 
before  her  death,  taught  that  doctrine,  not  only  in 
its  application  to  the  labor  question,  but  to  all  the 
complex  social  problems  of  these  times. 

Her  chief  title  as  a  teacher  of  social  and  moral 
science  lies  in  this:  With  a  profound  insight  she 
perceived  that  the  most  difficult  problems  of  civiliza- 
tion, the  problems  which  have  brought  the  states- 
manship and  philosophy  of  the  modern  world  to  a 
dead  standstill,  if  they  have  any  solution  at  all  — 
and  she  confidently  believed  they  had  —  would 
find  it  at  last  in  the  actual  application  to  the  daily 
life  of  the  world  of  the  divine  precepts  which  con- 
stitute the  most  precious  part  of  the  inheritance 
of  these  Christian  centuries. 

And  so  I  think  that  the  general  assembly  of  Illinois 
did  well  to  set  up  this  monument  in  memory  of  Miss 
Willard.     The  children  who  have  covered  it  this  day 


306  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

with  flowers  have  paid  to  her  a  tribute  so  simple  and 
so  appropriate  that  its  fragrance  will  fill  these  corri- 
dors long  after  the  formal  ceremonies  of  this  hour 
have  been  forgotten.  And  in  after  generations,  as 
long  as  this  venerable  edifice  remains,  the  women  of 
America,  as  they  look  upon  the  chiseled  beauty  of 
that  face,  standing  like  a  goddess  among  our  heroes 
and  our  sages,  will  whisper  a  word  of  gratitude  to 
the  people  of  Illinois  when  they  remember  the  act 
of  her  general  assembly,  which,  careless  alike  of 
custom  and  of  precedent,  has  added  to  the  title  of 
their  citizenship  this  perpetual  dignity  in  the  Capitol 
of  the  United  States. 


Hon.  Albert  J.  Beveridge,  Indiana 

Through  all  time  woman  has  typified  the  true, 
the  beautifulj  and  the  good  on  earth.  And  now 
Illinois,  near  the  very  heart  of  the  world's  great 
Republic,  and  at  the  dawn  of  the  twentieth  century, 
chooses  woman  herself  as  the  ideal  of  that  common- 
wealth and  of  this  period;  for  the  character  of 
Frances  E.  Willard  is  womanhood's  apotheosis. 

And  she  was  American.  She  was  the  child  of  our 
American  prairies,  daughter  of  an  American  home. 
And  she  had  strength  and  gentleness,  simplicity 
and  vision.  Not  from  the  complex  lives  that 
wealth  and  luxury   force  upon  their  unfortunate 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      307 

children;  not  from  the  sharpening  and  hardening 
process  of  the  city's  social  and  business  grind;  not 
from  any  of  civiUzation 's  artificiahties,  come  those 
whom  God  appoints  to  lead  mankind  toward  the 
Ught. 

Mr.  President,  all  the  saints  and  heroes  of  this 
world  have  come,  fresh  and  strong  from  the  source 
of  things,  by  abuses  unspoiled  and  unweakened  by 
false  refinements.  And  so  came  Frances  E.  Willard, 
the  American  w'oman.  The  wide,  free  fields  were 
the  playgrounds  of  her  childhood.  The  great 
primeval  woods  impressed  her  unfolding  soul  with 
their  vast  and  vital  calmness.  Association  with 
her  neighbors  was  scant  and  difficult;  and  home 
meant  to  her  all  that  the  poets  have  sung  of  it,  and 
more.  It  was  a  refuge  and  a  shrine,  a  dwelling 
and  a  place  of  joy,  a  spot  where  peace  and  Jove 
and  safety  and  all  unselfishness  reigned  with  a 
sovereignty  unchallenged.  This  child  of  our  for- 
ests and  our  plains,  this  daughter  of  that  finest 
of  civilization's  advance  guard  —  the  American 
pioneers  —  early  received  into  her  very  soul  that 
conception  of  the  home  to  which,  as  the  apostle 
of  universal  womanhood,  her  whole  life  was  ded- 
icated. 

To  make  the  homes  of  the  millions  pure,  to  render 
sweet  and  strong  those  human  relations  W'hich  con- 
stitute the  family  —  this  was  her  mission  and  her 


308  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

work,  and  by  the  deep  reasoning  of  nature  itself 
Frances  Willard's  work  was  justified. 

But  hers  was  no  philosopher's  creed.  She  got  her 
inspiration  from  a  higher  source  than  human  think- 
ing. In  her  life's  work  we  see  restored  to  earth 
that  faith  which,  whenever  man  has  let  it  work  its 
miracle,  has  wrought  victory  here  and  immortality 
hereafter.  Such  was  the  faith  of  Joan,  the  inspired 
maid  of  France;  such  that  of  Columbus,  sailing 
westward  through  the  dark;  such  the  exalted  be- 
lief of  those  good  missionaries  who  first  invaded  our 
American  wildernesses  to  light  with  their  own  lives 
on  civilization's  altar  the  sacred  fire  that  never  dies. 
The  story  of  Frances  E.  Willard's  faith  in  the  con- 
quest of  evil  by  the  good  seems  incredible  to  us  who 
demand  a  map  of  all  our  future  before  we  take  a 
step. 

No  method  can  measure  what  she  did.  The 
half  million  of  women  whom  she  brought  into 
organized  co-operation  in  the  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  is  but  a  suggestion  of  the  real 
results  of  her  activities.  Indeed,  the  highest  bene- 
fits her  life  bestowed  were  as  intangible  as  air,  and 
as  full  of  life.  She  made  purer  the  moral  atmos- 
phere of  a  continent  — •  almost  of  a  world.  She 
rendered  the  life  of  a  nation  cleaner,  the  mind  of  a 
people  saner.  Millions  of  homes  to-day  are  happier 
for  her;  millions  of  wives  and  mothers  bless  her;  and 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      309 

countless  cliildren  have  grown  into  strong,  upright, 
and  beautiful  maturity,  who,  but  for  the  work  of 
Frances  E.  Willard,  might  have  been  forever  soiled 
and  weakened. 

Mr.  President,  by  placing  her  statue  in  the  hall 
of  our  national  immortals,  a  great  commonwealth 
to-day  forever  commemorates  the  services  of  this 
American  woman  to  all  humanity.  And  the 
representatives  of  the  American  people  —  the 
greatest  people  in  this  world  —  in  Congress  formal- 
ly assembled  to-day,  are  paying  tribute  to  the  little 
frontier  American  maid  who  heard  and  heeded  the 
voices  that  came  to  her  from  the  unseen  world,  and, 
obeying  their  counsels,  became  the  first  woman  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  the  most  beloved  character 
of  her  time,  and,  under  God,  a  benefactress  of  her 
race. 

Hon.  George  E.  Foss,  Illinois 

In  pursuance  of  a  resolution  adopted  by  the  House 
of  Representatives  on  January  19,  1905,  which  I,  as 
representative  of  the  district  in  which  Frances  E. 
Willard  lived,  had  the  honor  to  introduce,  we  are 
here  assembled  at  this  hour  to  receive  and  accept 
from  the  State  of  Illinois  the  statue  of  this  noble 
woman,  now  erected  in  Statuary  Hall. 

The  State  of  Illinois  presents  this  statue  as  a  tri- 
bute to  the  life  of  Frances  E.  Willard,  and  in  a  larger 


310  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

and  truer  sense  as  a  tribute  to  woman  and  the 
magnificent  progress  she  has  made  under  our  free 
institutions. 

The  past  century  has  been  one  of  great  progress 
in  art,  in  literature,  in  science,  in  all  things;  not  that 
it  has  produced  the  greatest  poets  in  the  world,  nor 
the  greatest  authors,  nor  the  greatest  orators,  but 
the  century  will  be  conspicuous  in  that  education, 
enlightenment,  and  advancement  have  come  to 
the  many  and  not  to  the  few.  But  the  greatest 
progress  has  been  that  of  woman. 

The  Illinois  legislature,  without  the  slightest  dis- 
respect to  her  great  sons,  in  its  wisdom  believed 
that  the  time  had  come  when  woman  should  be 
honored,  and  when  her  statue  should  be  placed  in 
the  American  Pantheon.  And  who  shall  say  that 
woman  has  no  right  there.'*  What  voice  will  be 
lifted  to  protest  .f*  Has  all  the  wonderful  develop- 
ment of  our  country  ever  since  the  time  when  that 
frail  bark  landed  with  its  precious  cargo  of  human 
freight  on  Plymouth  Rock  been  accomplished  by 
men?  Has  woman  played  no  part  in  this  tremen- 
dous national  development  .f*  Has  she  exercised  no 
influence  on  our  national  life? 

Time  would  fail  me  to  enumerate  many  in- 
stances where  woman  has  played  a  conspicuous 
part  in  our  national  history.  Who  does  not  recall 
how  the  early  mothers  endured  the  hardships  and 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE     311 

braved  the  dangers  of  life  in  the  paths  of  civili- 
zation, and  buildcd  the  home,  and*  planted  the 
sanctuary,  and  worshiped  their  God  out  on 
the  outposts  of  civilization,  which  later  became 
the  fortifications  of  freedom,  of  liberty  and  en- 
lightenment? 

Frances  E.  Willard  herself  once  said:  "If  I  were 
asked  what  was  the  true  mission  of  the  ideal  woman, 
I  would  say,  '  It  is  to  make  the  whole  world  home- 
Hke.'  " 

Illinois,  therefore,  presents  this  statue,  not  only 
as  a  tribute  to  her  whom  it  represents  —  one  of  the 
foremost  women  of  America  —  but  as  a  tribute  to 
woman  and  her  mighty  influence  upon  our  national 
life;  to  woman  in  the  home;  to  woman  in  all  the 
occupations  and  professions  of  life;  to  woman  in  all 
her  charity  and  philanthropy,  wherever  she  is  toil- 
ing for  the  good  of  humanity;  to  woman  everywhere, 
who  has  ever  stood  "for  God,  for  home,  for  native 
land." 

Hon.  Henry  T.  Rainey,  Illinois 

Until  to-day  no  State  has  contributed  the  statue 
of  a  woman.  No  one  imagined  forty-one  years 
ago,  when  this  act  was  passed,  that  the  heroic  figure 
of  a  woman  would  ever  stand  beneath  that  dome. 
But  the  world  is  growing  in  more  ways  than  one; 
and  the  world  is  ready  now  to  believe  that  a  courage- 


312  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

ous  womanly  woman  makes  as  heroic  a  figure  as  a 
brave  manly  man. 

In  the  years  which  followed  the  war  one  of  the 
forces  most  potent  to  sweep  away  the  mists  and  let 
in  the  sunlight  upon  North  and  South  alike  was  the 
army  of  women,  led  by  Frances  E.  Willard,  march- 
ing through  the  North  and  the  South,  following 
the  white  banners  upon  which  she  had  inscribed  the 
motto,  "For  God  and  home  and  native  land."  In 
the  dark  days  which  followed  the  war  she  furnished 
the  common  ground  upon  which  all  could  stand, 
whether  they  lived  under  bright  skies  where  the 
magnolia  blooms,  or  under  grayer  skies  in  the  colder 
North. 

She  led  the  fight  for  the  home,  for  personal  purity, 
for  better  habits  of  living,  for  the  rights  of  children, 
for  the  uplifting  of  women.  Upon  these  great  sub- 
jects she  delivered  addresses  in  almost  all  the  towns 
and  cities  of  the  country  containing  a  population 
of  5,000  and  upward.  On  one  of  her  campaigns 
she  traveled  30,000  miles,  speaking  almost  every 
day  in  crowded  halls  and  churches. 

With  chains  of  gold  stretching  across  the  gulf 
which  divided  the  sections  she  bound  together  the 
homes  of  the  North  and  the  homes  of  the  South, 
until  the  dividing  chasm  disappeared  and  a  mighty 
nation  moves  forward  under  one  banner  with  re- 
sistless force  to  the  tremendous  destiny  prepared 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      313 

for  it  by  the  omnipotent  God.  If  peace  hath  its 
victories,  it  is  peculiarly  appropriate  that  Miss 
Willard's  statue  should  stand  here  under  this  dome. 
In  the  State  which  produced  a  Lincoln,  a  Douglas, 
and  a  Logan  we  consider  her  one  of  our  greatest 
citizens. 

Three  hundred  years  ago,  on  the  banks  of  a  beauti- 
ful river  in  far-away  India,  at  fabulous  cost  a  king 
erected  a  tomb  in  memory  of  a  woman.  With 
towering  minarets  of  whitest  marble  it  stands  to- 
day the  most  splendid  building  ever  erected  by  man. 
The  women  of  America  have  erected  in  memory  of 
Frances  E.  Willard  a  monument,  not  made  of  mar- 
ble, which  crumbles  with  the  passing  centuries,  but 
made  of  that  enduring  material  which  withstands 
the  ravages  of  time  —  a  monument  of  human  love 
and  human  admiration  and  human  sympathy. 

She  was  a  true  child  of  the  prairie.  During  the 
fifty  years  of  her  active  career  she  lived  in  the  State 
of  Illinois,  and  from  her  modest,  quiet  cottage  in 
the  village  of  Evanston,  where  only  the  murmurs  of 
the  great  lake  broke  the  stillness,  she  issued  forth, 
a  modern  Joan  of  Arc,  to  fight  the  nation 's  enemies 
— -  aglow  with  purpose  —  wearing  the  armor  of 
truth  and  womanly  purity.  She  has  won  a  place 
in  the  temple  of  the  truly  great.  Frances  E.  Willard 
is  dead,  her  soul  has  gone  beyond  the  stars,  but  her 
memory  lives. 


314  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

The  State  of  Illinois  —  always  the  home  of  great 
men  —  mindful  of  the  fact  that  she  is  entitled  to  no 
more  places  in  this  Hall,  presents  now  to  the  nation 
the  statue  of  this  woman,  cunningly  carved,  by  a 
woman,  out  of  the  finest  and  the  whitest  of  marble. 


Hon.  Joseph  V.  Graff,  Illinois 

The  oft-repeated  question  to  Miss  Willard's  girl 
students  was,  "What  do  you  intend  to  do  in  life?" 
The  great  object  to  her  in  education  was  the  develop- 
ment of  character.  "What  shall  we  do  with  our 
lives?"  was  the  question  ringing  through  her  life 
as  a  teacher  and  reformer.  She  was  proud  of  her 
sex.  She  strove  to  elevate  it.  She  endeavored  to 
broaden  its  opportunities,  to  enlarge  its  usefulness, 
to  increase  its  influence,  to  uplift  its  purposes.  If 
her  life  was  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  her  in- 
fluence upon  the  women  of  the  United  States,  with- 
out regard  to  her  work  elsewhere  or  upon  men,  she 
still  would  be  the  greatest  figure  of  our  country  in 
woman 's  work  and  woman 's  betterment. 

Her  educational  work  gave  a  distinct  impetus  to 
the  higher  education  of  women,  and  accident  played 
an  important  part  in  taking  her  from  this  field  in- 
to the  larger  national  work  for  purity  and  tem- 
perance. She  displayed  wonderful  powers  of  organ- 
ization and  executive  ability  as  head  of  the  National 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      315 

Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  and  as 
president  of  the  World's  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union,  the  hitter  of  which  she  founded. 
Other  women  have  become  distinguished  and 
national  figures,  but  no  one  of  her  kind  ever  be- 
came so  universally  known  and  loved  throughout 
the  entire  land  in  the  humblest  homes.  She  reach- 
ed down  into  the  lives  of  the  millions  and  made  her 
influence  felt,  and  broadened  and  sweetened  lives, 
and  changed  their  purpose  for  the  better,  to  the  ex- 
tent, perhaps,  that  no  man  or  other  woman  of 
America  has  ever  done. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  take  great  pleasure  in,  and  congrat- 
ulate my  fellow-citizens  of  this  Republic  upon,  the 
fact  that  we  place  woman  upon  a  higher  standard 
than  is  done  in  any  other  civilized  nation  in  the 
world.  The  dissemination  of  education  in  the  last 
twenty  years  has  brought  about  new  ideals  concern- 
ing the  proper  elements  which  make  up  the  successful 
mother,  which  enables  her  to  perform  all  of  the  duties 
connected  with  the  fashioning  of  human  souls,  with 
the  building  of  human  character,  with  the  fore- 
casting of  the  future  of  human  lives.  It  is  no  long- 
er believed  in  the  United  States  that  a  woman  is 
sufficiently  informed  and  equipped  if  she  is  able  to 
do  the  physical  duties  connected  with  the  house- 
hold. We  now  understand  that  she  has  the  most 
delicate  task  of  all  occupations.     She  has  the  most 


316  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

important  task  for  the  future  of  the  RepubHc, 
because  this  RepubHc  rests  for  its  safety  upon  the 
character  of  its  citizenship.  The  child  is  the  father 
of  the  man,  and  it  is  the  women  of  America  who  give 
direction  to  the  trend  of  mature  Hfe;  it  is  the  women 
who  first  implant  the  character  of  aspirations  which 
afterwards  manifest  themselves  in  the  active  man- 
hood of  the  United  States.  So  I  say,  Mr.  Speaker, 
that  the  State  of  Illinois  is  going  forward  in  taking 
this  new  step,  when  she  presumes  that  the  women  of 
the  United  States,  with  the  important  duties  which 
they  have  to  perform  to  society  as  well  as  to  their 
families,  have  a  right  to  a  part  in  this  Hall,  com- 
memorated to  the  forms  of  those  who  have  done 
great  work  in  the  world. 


Hon.  Charles  E.  Littlefield,  Maine 

The  greatest  figure  in  American  history  —  yes, 
one  of  the  greatest  figures  in  the  history  of  the 
world  —  the  immortal,  celestial,  martyred  Lincoln, 
belongs  to  Illinois,  She  has  many  other  illustrious 
sons.  With  all  this  wealth  of  material  Illinois  to- 
day places  in  this  great  Pantheon  the  statue  of  a 
beautiful  Christian  woman,  who  has  a  deserved  and 
world-wide  renown  for  "distinguished  civic"  ser- 
vices. 

By  her  own  efforts  she  had  "achieved  greatness." 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      317 

Without  this  legislative  recognition  her  name  and 
fame  were  secure.  It  was  written  on  the  fleshly 
tablets  of  millions  of  human  hearts  beyond  all  power 
of  effacement.  The  beautiful  marble,  the  enduring 
bronze,  or  the  eternal  granite,  were  not  necessary  to 
perpetuate  it.  It  was  as  firmly  fixed  "as  though 
graven  with  an  iron  pen  and  lead  in  the  rock  for- 
ever." 

This  is  the  first  time  that  our  Valhalla  has  been 
graced,  adorned,  and  honored  by  the  statue  of  a 
woman.  Frances  Elizabeth  Willard  can  fittingly 
and  appropriately  represent  her  sex  in  this  distin- 
guished and  honorable  company.  Illinois  honors 
herself  by  giving  to  womankind  this  noble  recogni- 
tion. It  is  a  most  gratifying  reflection  that  if  the 
mighty  and  sainted  shade  of  the  departed  Lincoln 
could  have  been  consulted  it  would  have  no  doubt 
concurred  with  hearty  enthusiasm  in  this  selection. 
She  was  the  especial  representative  of  a  great  cause 
in  whose  principles  he  religiously  believed  and 
whose  tenets  he  faithfully  practiced. 

In  the  brilliant  galaxy  of  great  women  Frances 
Elizabeth  Willard  has  placed  her  name.  Her  deeds 
have  written  it  there.  Educated,  cultured,  refined, 
journalist,  author,  and  professor,  she  abandoned 
them  all  that  she  might  devote  her  life  to  the  ad- 
vancement and  promotion  of  the  cause  that  was 
near  and  dear  to  her,  the  sacred  cause  that  has  the 


318  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

soul-inspiring  watchword,  "For  God  and  home  and 
native  land." 

Her  gentle,  persuasive  ministrations  proceeded  in 
the  faith  that  "the  banner  and  the  sword  were  never 
yet  the  symbol  of  man's  grandest  victories," and  that 
the  time  was  at  hand  "to  listen  to  the  voice  of  that 
inspired  philosophy  which  through  all  ages  has  been 
gently  saying,  '  The  race  is  not  to  the  swift  nor  the 
battle  to  the  strong.' " 

While  she  had  extraordinary  executive  and  ad- 
ministrative ability,  she  could  not  have  accomplished 
her  great  work  had  she  not  been  divinely  blessed 
with  qualities  and  graces  of  the  mind,  heart,  and 
person  that  are  seldom  found  combined. 

Attractive,  engaging,  and  beautiful  in  person, 
with  a  musical  voice  of  marvelous  sweetness  and 
purity,  intellectual,  logical,  persuasive,  and  eloquent, 
she  had  a  platform  presence  and  manner  that  made 
her  easily  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  effective  of 
orators. 

If  true  eloquence  is  to  be  measured  by  the  effect 
produced  upon  the  hearers,  she  had  few  equals  and 
no  superiors. 

No  repetition  of  her  language  can  reproduce  the 
charm  that  clothed  it  as  it  fell  from  her  lips.  She 
brought  all  the  wealth  of  culture  and  learning  to 
her  work.  That  she  realized  the  importance  of  the 
highest  ideals  in  literature,  and  keenly  appreciated 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE     319 

the  infinite  harm  of  covering  vice  with  an  attractive 
garb  and  minimizing  its  wickedness  and  infamy, 
was  vividly  portrayed  by  her  address  on  the  presen- 
tation of  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Hayes. 

Statesmen,  warriors,  and  patriots  may  strive  and 
build  and  achieve,  but  all  their  striving,  building,  and 
achieving  is  in  vain,  even  "as  sounding  brass,  or  a 
tinkling  cymbal,"  if  it  disregards  the  eternal  moral 
verities,  and  does  not  conserve  the  true  happiness 
and  the  highest  welfare  of  mankind.  This  divinely 
gifted  woman  bent  every  energy,  shaped  every  pur- 
pose, and  devoted  every  aspiration  of  a  godly  life 
to  the  consummation  of  this  happiness  and  welfare. 
It  is  meet  that  her  work  should  be  thus  recognized. 

This  statue  stands,  and  always  will  stand,  as  the 
highest  and  truest  embodiment  of  all  that  is  noblest, 
best,  and  divinest  in  the  womanhood  of  America, 
and  the  enduring  memorial  of  "whatever  things 
are  of  good  report"  in  our  Christian  civilization. 


Hon.  Franklin  E.  Brooks,  Colorado 

Mr.  Speaker:  Colorado  owes  much  to  IlHnois. 
From  her  we  derived  our  form  of  State  constitution; 
from  her  also  we  took  many  of  our  statute  laws;  from 
her  came  many  of  the  pioneers  who  helped  to  give 
form  and  shape  to  the  State's  new  life;  but  no  debt 
of  Colorado  to  her  mother  State  exceeds  in  impor- 


320  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

tance  that  which  she  owes  for  the  precious  gift  of 
memory  of  the  hfe  and  character  of  Frances  E.  Wil- 
lard.  Herself  one  of  the  nation's  empire  builders, 
she  appeals  with  peculiar  force  to  the  thousands  of 
noble,  constructive  men  and  women  who  look  to 
such  examples  for  their  guidance  and  for  their  sup- 
port. 

Miss  Willard  was  unusually  adapted  to  meet  such 
needs.  She  had  in  her  own  life  seen  and  been  a  part 
of  the  growth  and  development  of  two  of  our  great 
commonwealths.  She  had  played  a  most  important 
part  in  directing  and  ennobling  the  life  of  those 
communities  before  she  entered  upon  her  larger  and 
more  enduring  labors.  The  men  and  women  of 
Colorado,  who  are  trying  to  reproduce  in  the  moun- 
tain surroundings  of  that  State  the  ideas  and  ideals 
for  which  she  gave  her  whole  life 's  devotion,  find  at 
every  step  abundant  material  in  her  history  to  serve 
as  their  own  model,  and  to  her  they  look  for  leader- 
ship. 

Her  life  has  not  been  without  its  definite,  tangible, 
present  results  in  that  State  at  least.  Much  that 
she  labored  for  has  there  been  achieved.  Colorado 
is  one  of  the  four  States  of  the  Union  which  have 
accorded  to  woman  full  civic  rights,  which  recognize 
in  fullest  measure  her  equality  before  the  law,  and 
place  her  on  a  plane  in  all  respects  equal  to  that 
occupied  by  her  brothers.     It  has  been  a  successful 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      321 

experiment,  and  the  people  everywhere  give  it  a  full 
measure  of  approval.  In  every  line  of  civic  activi- 
ties that  commonwealth  has  received  and  has  appre- 
ciated the  benefit  of  woman's  counsels,  help,  and 
active  constructive  work;  and  these  counsels  and 
that  help  have  had  a  most  stimulating  effect  in  every 
phase  of  life. 

In  her  life  Miss  Willard  graced  and  adorned  every 
circle.  She  added  strength  and  force  to  every 
council.  She  promoted  and  advanced  every  good 
cause  to  a  degree  that  we  do  not  yet  fully  appreciate. 
Others  have  recounted  in  glowing  terms  the  features 
of  her  life,  and  have  told  what  she  did  for  civiliza- 
tion and  humanity.  I  do  not  care  to  attempt  to 
add  anything  to  what  has  been  said  along  these 
lines.  Miss  Willard  stands  now  as  a  type  of  the 
loftiest  endeavor  of  the  later  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Such  a  life  and  such  a  work  knows  no 
sex.     It  is  for  mankind. 

To-day  the  nation  joins  in  welcoming  this  newest 
addition  to  our  Hall  of  Fame.  It  recognizes  and 
pays  glad  tribute  to  her  intellectual  ability,  her 
self-sacrificing  work  for  her  race,  and  the  grandeur 
of  her  moral  worth.  It  takes  her  into  full  fellow- 
ship with  her  heroes  of  war  and  peace,  her  great 
lawmakers  and  administrators,  as  one  of  those  who 
have  done  great  things  for  their  native  land. 

The  State  whose  advent  into  the  sisterhood  of 


FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

States  marked  the  opening  of  the  second  century  of 
the  nation's  Hfe,  can  not  and  will  not  be  unheard 
among  those  who  at  this  time  are  giving  utterance 
to  the  universal  regard  for  her  who  is  the  cause 
and  occasion  of  these  exercises.  Not  only  here,  but 
in  the  lives  and  homes  of  her  people  she  will 
perpetuate  and  cherish  the  memory  of  Frances 
E.  Willard  and  strive  to  emulate  and  follow  her 
example. 

Illinois,  the  home  of  her  mature  life  and  the  scene 
of  her  greatest  work,  has  given  her  an  undying  fame 
in  the  beautiful  marble  which  now  graces  our  halls. 
The  nation  has  accepted  the  gift  of  that  marble  to 
cherish  and  protect.  It  is  for  Colorado,  with  the 
other  States,  to  secure  for  her  a  monument  more 
lasting  than  bronze,  which  is  to  be  erected  in  the 
loving  hearts  of  the  thousands  whose  lives  she  has 
ennobled  and  uplifted. 


A  commemorative  service  by  the  children  of  the 
Loyal  Temperance  Legion  and  of  the  Washington 
public  schools  had  preceded  the  Congressional  ex- 
ercises. In  days  to  come,  gray-headed  men  and 
women  will  show  children  now  unborn  the  Willard 
Statue  Medal  bestowed  on  them  in  childhood  when, 
as  members  of  the  youngest  division  of  the  Tem- 
perance Army,  they  had  part  in  this  sacred  festal. 
Before  leaving  the  Capitol,  the  ceremony  of  placing 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      323 

at  the  base  of  the  statue  a  wreath  of  palms  and  laurel 
in  the  name  of  the  State  of  Illinois  was  performed 
by  Miss  Anna  Adams  Gordon,  Chairman  of  the 
Frances  E.  Willard  Statue  Board  of  Commissioners 
of  the  State  of  Illinois,  who  offered  the  tribute  with 
these  words : 

"We  desire  to  express  our  high  appreciation  of  the 
splendid  men  of  the  Prairie  State  who  in  Legislative 
Assembly  voted  to  send  to  the  United  States  Capitol 
the  statue  of  Frances  E.  Willard.  Thinking  grate- 
fully of  these  men,  and  of  those  honorable  gentlemen 
who  in  the  United  States  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  have  to-day  spoken  words  of  trib- 
ute to  Illinois'  most  illustrious  daughter,  we  place 
at  the  base  of  this  beautiful  memorial  marble  a 
wreath  of  laurel  and  palm,  emblematic  of  the  victo- 
rious life  of  Frances  E.  Willard." 

On  the  same  evening  a  National  Commemorative 
service  was  held  in  the  Metropolitan  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  presided  over  by  Mrs.  Lillian 
M.  N.  Stevens,  who  became  the  successor  of  Miss 
Willard  as  president  of  the  National  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union.  Dr.  Edward  Everett 
Hale,  Mrs.  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  and  many  others 
participated  in  the  exercises.  Among  the  noblest 
tributes  of  the  occasion  was  this  poem  by  Mrs. 
Katharine  Lent  Stevenson,  then  national  corres- 
ponding secretary  of  the  organization: 


Tlffl 


immafmOMa 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      325 

A  Knight  she  standi! 
A  maiden-knight,  whom  fear  coald  not  &ssa.ii. 
Whose  eye  flinched  not,  whoae  great  heart  did  not  (ail; 
Who  sought,  and  found,  e'en  here,  the  Holy  Grail; 

Our  Knight  she  stands ! 

Stand,  radiant  soul! 
Here,  in  the  centre  of  our  Nation's  heart; 
Forever  of  its  best  life  thou'rt  a  part; 
Here  thou  shalt  draw  thy  land  to  what  thoa  art; 

Stand,  radiant  soul! 

Stand  conquering  one! 
Swift  down  the  years  ah-eady  leaps  the  matm 
Of  holiest  triumph,  for  which  thou  wcrt  Ikxb; 
"Sought  out, "  our  land  shall  be  ''no  wmate  toAwa," 

Since  thou  dost  standi 

A  Frances  E.  Willard  Memorial  Fund  wa^  es- 
tablished at  the  St.  Paul  Convention  of  the  National 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  in  1S98. 
Under  the  provisions  of  this  Fund  a  memorial  day 
is  held  each  year  in  all  the  auxiliaries  of  the  great 
organization  of  which  she  was  so  long  the  honored 
president.  The  offerings  of  these  occasions, 
now  amounting  to  many  thousands  of  dollars, 
are  used  for  the  extension  and  perpetuation  of  the 
principles  and  work  of  the  Woman 's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union.  One  can  think  of  a  fitting  tribute 
yet  unpaid  to  the  memory  of  Miss  Willard.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  in  some  future  day  a  generous  minded 
gift-giver  to  noble  causes  will  see  that  somewhere  a 
chime  of  beUs  peals  out  on  the  air  the  sweet  memory 


326  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

of  America 's  great  daughter.  She  who  loved  music 
to  the  point  of  passion  would  thus  be  tenderly  re- 
called through  all  the  ringing  changes  of  time. 

At  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century,  in  the 
City  of  New  York,  on  the  grounds  of  the  University 
of  New  York,  was  established  a  Hall  of  Fame  for 
the  preservation  and  exaltation  of  the  names  of  the 
great  of  our  country.  To  make  the  circuit  of  this 
Hall  one  travels  a  distance  of  nearly  twelve  hundred 
feet.  Outside,  the  pediments,  eight  in  number, 
hold  these  eight  inscriptions:     the  hall  of  fame, 

FOR  GREAT  AMERICANS,  BY  WEALTH  OF  THOUGHT,  OR 
ELSE  BY  MIGHTY  DEED,  THEY  SERVED  MANKIND,  IN 
NOBLE  CHARACTER,  IN  WORLD-WIDE  GOOD,  THEY 
LIVE  FOREVERMORE. 

One  hundred  and  ten  electors  chosen  from  the 
most  illustrious  men  of  letters,  college  presidents, 
the  judicial  bench,  and  the  professional  life  of 
American  citizens,  compose  a  board  that  decides 
once  in  five  years  what  names  shall  be  added. 
Fifty-one  or  more  votes  give  preference.  Provision 
within  the  Hall  is  made  in  Colonnade  Hall  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty  names,  each  occupying  a  panel 
two  by  eight  feet  in  size.  Each  candidate  for  this 
honor  must  have  passed  from  mortal  life  ten  years 
before  the  decision  is  made. 

In  the  election  of  1910  were  added  to  the  twenty- 
nine  already  placed  the  following :     Harriet  Beecher 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      327 

Stowe,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Andrew  Jackson, 
Phillips  Brooks,  James  Fenimore  Cooper,  Roger 
Williams,  William  Cullen  Bryant,  George  Bancroft, 
John  Lothrop  Motley,  Edgar  Allen  Poc,  and  Frances 
E.  Willard.  No  nobler  name  could  be  enrolled  than 
that  of  this  educator,  philanthropist  and  reformer, 
"who  has  made  the  world  wider  for  women  and 
more  homelike  for  humanity." 

At  the  time  of  her  translation,  heartfelt  tributes 
and  messages  of  sympathy  were  received  by  cable 
and  post  from  white-ribboners  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Hundreds  of  speakers,  writers,  and  journal- 
ists, oflfered  their  tribute  of  praise  to  her  service 
of  life  so  loftily  and  so  freely  given.  It  would  make 
another  volume  to  record  the  words  of  noted  clergy- 
men, educators,  authors,  statesmen,  philanthropists, 
and  leaders  of  temperance,  peace,  labor,  and  numer- 
ous other  organizations. 

Paragraphs  from  a  few  tributes  are  here  recorded 
because  they  are  the  appreciative  words  of  noted 
and  brotherly  men  closely  connected  with  Miss 
Willard  in  the  educational  and  religious  life  of  her 
home  city  of  Evanston,  Illinois. 


328  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

Miss  Willabd  as  a  University  Woman  and 
Educator 

HENRY  wade  ROGERS,   LL.  D. 

Former  President  Northwestern  University 

We  of  the  University  honored  and  loved  Frances 
Willard.  Once  she  was  dean  of  what  was  then 
known  as  the  Woman's  College,  was  a  member  of 
our  faculty,  and  in  these  later  years,  of  our  Board 
of  Trustees.  She  loved  the  University  and  was 
proud  of  what  it  had  become.  A  few  years  ago 
she  wrote  of  it,  "It  greatly  outranks  any  other  west 
of  Lake  Michigan,  and  richly  deserves  the  name  of 
*The  Northwestern,'  in  the  modern  sense  of  that 
great  and  comprehensive  designation.  Steadily  may 
its  star  climb  toward  the  zenith,  growing  clearer  and 
more  bright  with  each  succeeding  year."  The  last 
speech  she  made  in  this  town,  which  she  delighted  to 
call  "The  Methodist  Cambridge  of  the  prairies,"  her 
"ain  familiar  town,"  was  an  address  to  the  students 
delivered  in  the  college  chapel  only  a  few  weeks  ago. 
How  little  we  thought  she  was  so  soon  to  pass  be- 
yond the  veil!  But  had  she  known  then  that  her 
life  was  fast  passing  on  toward  the  twilight,  so  ready 
was  she  to  go,  she  might  even  have  said  to  it: 

"  Then  steal  away,  give  little  warning. 
Choose  thine  own  time. 

Say  not  good-night  —  but  in  some  brighter  clime 
Bid  me  good-morning." 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      329 

We  mourn  that  she  has  been  taken,  but  we  do  not 
forget  that  she  was  given.  She  has  done  a  great 
work,  grown  weary  and  fallen  on  sleep.  May  the 
beautiful  spirit  which  dominated  her  life  inspire  us 
all  to  nobler  things ! 

In  February,  1871,  she  was  elected  president  of 
the  Evanston  College  for  Ladies.  At  that  time  the 
institution  had  no  connection  with  the  University. 
She  was  the  first  woman  to  be  elected  president  of  a 
college.  It  is  due  to  her  labors  that  the  town 
authorities  gave  as  a  site  for  the  new  college  what  was 
then  one  of  the  chief  parks  of  Evanston.  Upon  that 
site  was  built  what  is  now  known  as  the  Woman's 
Hall.  She,  with  others,  made  the  canvass  for  the 
money  with  which  it  was  erected,  and  brick  by  brick 
she  watched  its  walls  as  they  climbed  high  above  the 
trees.  It  was  in  her  thoughts  by  day  and  by  night, 
and  she  was  fond  of  it.  She  said  of  it,  "It  is  my 
sister  Mary's  that  died,  and  it  is  mine." 

In  June,  1873,  the  institution  was  incorporated 
with  the  University  under  conditions  largely  dictated 
by  her,  and  she  became  dean  of  the  Woman 's  College 
and  Professor  of  ^Esthetics  in  the  Faculty  of  Liberal 
Arts.  As  professor  and  dean  she  had  her  trials. 
She  taught  the  classes  in  English,  and  met  them  in 
the  president's  room  in  University  Hall.  It  was  a 
new  experience  for  college  men  to  recite  to  a  woman 
teacher.     They  tried  her  mettle  only  to  find  that 


330  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

she  understood  herself  and  them.  They  admired 
and  respected  her.  She  was  popular  and  inspiring, 
and  in  every  way  a  successful  teacher.  It  is  an  am- 
bition worthy  of  the  immortals  to  build  one's  own 
life  into  the  lives  of  others,  and  this  she  was  able  to 
do  to  a  remarkable  degree. 

She  was  one  of  the  early  advocates  of  the  higher 
education  for  women.  This  was  to  her  a  sacred 
cause.  She  believed,  too,  in  the  co-education  of 
the  sexes,  and  was  wont  to  impress  upon  her  women 
students  that  the  experiment  of  co-education  was  on 
trial,  and  that  in  some  degree  its  future  rested  with 
them.  "God  help  you  to  be  good!"  she  said  to 
them.  She  believed,  too,  in  the  principle  of  self- 
government,  and  many  a  time  rejoiced  as  she  thought 
how  true  and  self-respecting  a  set  of  girls  she  had 
around  her.  One  who  disapproved  her  government 
said:  "The  trouble  is,  these  girls  are  quite  too  loyal; 
they  make  a  hobby  of  it." 

It  is  difficult  to  overestimate  what  the  influence  of 
her  noble  nature  and  magnetic  personality  would 
have  been  upon  thousands  of  students  during  all 
these  years  if  her  work  had  continued  in  educational 
lines,  what  inspiration  for  high  and  noble  living, 
what  pure  ambitions  to  love  and  serve  humanity, 
what  strong  endeavors  for  high  scholarship  and 
great  achievement  would  have  been  born  in  the  souls 
of  the  students  coming  into  close  touch  with  her  great 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      331 

soul.  She  was  eminently  fitted  to  be  a  great  teacher. 
One  who  has  the  power  of  kindling  another  mind 
with  the  fire  which  burns  in  his  own,  who  can  bring 
his  soul  into  such  close  and  loving  contact  with  his 
students  that  they  are  stirred  by  his  impulses  and 
fired  with  his  enthusiasms,  has  in  the  highest  sense 
the  teaching  power,  and  is  described  as  the  ideal 
teacher.  This  rare  gift  our  friend  possessed,  and  in 
high  degree. 

The  nations  of  Europe  seek  to  kindle  the  patriotic 
ardor  of  their  subjects  by  putting  on  speaking  canvas 
the  immortal  deeds  of  their  great  men.  And  in  our 
own  country  a  grateful  public  or  generous  friends 
enshrine  in  marble  or  bronze,  or  on  canvas,  the  mem- 
ory of  those  whose  lives  have  been  a  blessing  to 
humanity.  It  is  a  gratifying  reflection  at  this  hour, 
that  one  of  our  own  generous  citizens  will  soon  place 
in  the  keeping  of  the  University  the  face  of  this  wo- 
man whose  life  was  a  minstrel  of  love,  and  whose 
death  leaves  the  world  bereaved.  Generations  of 
students,  as  they  look  upon  that  marble,  will  be 
moved  to  noble  living  by  the  memory  of  her  unsel- 
fish services,  and  they  will  find  in  it  a  noble  stimulus 
to  purity  of  life,  and  to  a  consecration  of  their  powers 
to  the  cause  of  humanity. 

The  winning  personality  of  Frances  Willard  and 
her  charm  of  soul  made  it  possible  for  her  to  impress 
herself  upon  her  students  in  a  manner  given  to  the 


332  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

few.  She  exerted  upon  them  a  far-reaching  influence, 
not  only  by  the  thoughts  she  expressed  in  her  class- 
room, but  by  her  views  of  life  and  duty,  which  she 
revealed  to  them  in  her  personal  and  private  rela- 
tions with  them.  A  quarter  of  a  century  has  almost 
passed  since  she  retired  from  the  faculty,  but  all 
who  were  associated  with  her  in  those  days  have 
preserved  pleasant  recollections  of  the  winsomeness 
of  her  personality,  and  the  attractiveness  of  her 
spirit.  We  can  ask  no  better  thing  to-day  than  that 
the  benign  influence  of  this  refined,  devoted,  noble 
woman  and  teacher  may  abide  in  the  life  of  this 
University  for  years  to  come. 

We  lay  upon  her  casket  here  to-day  this  tribute  of 
our  love  and  admiration.  She  has  entered  within 
the  gate.  She  has  been  transfigured,  and  it  has  been 
granted  her  that  she  should  be  arrayed  in  fine  linen, 
which  is  the  righteousness  of  saints.  On  her  head 
has  been  placed  a  golden  crown,  and  she  has  been 
girded  with  a  golden  girdle.  All  the  bells  of  that  great 
city,  the  holy  Jerusalem,  have  rung  with  joy,  and 
it  has  been  said  unto  her,  "Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      333 

Miss  Willard's  Public  Life 
rev.  c.  j.  little.  d.  d..  li-.  d. 

Late  President  of  the  Garrett  Biblical  Institute 

Frances  Willard  reminded  me,  whenever  I  listened 
to  her,  of  Matthew  Arnold's  definition  of  religion, 
"Morality  touched  by  emotion."  She  was  a  con- 
science aglow  with  divine  light. 

Her  departure  from  Northwestern  University, 
with  its  attendant  circumstances,  caused  her  intense 
pain;  the  remembrance  of  it  was  never  without  its 
tinge  of  grief.  And  yet  this  departure  was,  in  the 
old  New  England  phrase,  a  divine  enlargement,  the 
breaking  of  the  chains  that  held  her  back  from  des- 
tiny. 

Her  strong  and  only  impulse  at  the  time  was  to- 
ward the  Temperance  Crusade  movement,  then  at  its 
height.  The  religious  fervor,  the  ethical  purpose, 
the  moral  martyrdom,  and  the  feminine  character  of 
this  movement  appealed  to  her  faith,  her  conscience, 
her  courage,  and  her  conception  of  woman's  latent 
power,  and  so  she  entered  it  "with  a  heart  for  any 
fate." 

All  great  moral  careers  grow  out  of  the  concurrence 
of  conscience  and  opportunity;  the  compulsion  of 
the  soul  combines  with  the  compulsion  of  circum- 
stance, and  the  real  life  begins.  Years  before  she 
had  wanted  to  say  something,  but  what  was  it? 
And  now  the  disclosure  came.     All  else  had  been  a 


334  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

preparation  for  it — her  maiden  shyness  and  her 
maiden  independence,  the  inspiration  of  her  home, 
the  revelations  of  nature  and  of  books,  the  experi- 
ences of  travel,  the  trials  of  the  schoolroom,  her 
search  for  God,  her  aspirations,  her  ambitions  and 
her  sorrows.  The  literary  gift  and  the  magic  of 
speech  were  a  part  of  her  inheritance.  And  yet  she 
trembled  to  appear  in  public.  She  had  lectured  in 
Centenary  church,  Chicago,  in  1871.  And  this  first 
public  utterance  contains  the  germ  of  all  she  said 
and  did  in  after  years.  The  sorrowful  estate  of 
women  throughout  the  world  gave  her,  she  declared, 
the  courage  to  become  a  public  speaker.  It  gave 
her  more.  It  gave  her  the  vision  of  the  woman  of 
the  future,  for  whose  coming  she  thought  and  wrote 
and  planned  and  prayed.  But  not  until  1874  did 
she  begin  to  speak  with  all  her  might,  for  then  came 
to  her  the  sign  by  which  she  was  to  conquer,  "For 
God,  and  Home,  and  Native  Land." 

Frances  Willard  had  the  gift  of  eloquence.  She 
was  a  subtle,  thoughtful,  thrilling  talker.  Her 
presence  was  not  imposing,  yet  it  was  always  tran- 
quilizing  at  the  beginning,  and  afterward  full  of 
sweet  surprises.  Her  voice  was  clear  and  melodious 
and  strong,  with  a  peculiar  quality  of  blended 
defiance  and  deference,  of  tenderness  and  intrepidity, 
that  gave  it  an  indescribable  ring.  Her  diction  was 
studiously    simple;    her    reasoning    luminous    and 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      335 

homely;  her  illustrations  full  of  poetry  and  humor; 
her  pathos  as  natural  as  tears  to  a  child.  She  was 
wholly  unaffected,  taking  her  audience  so  deftly 
into  her  confidence  that  she  conquered  them,  as 
Christ  conquers,  by  self-revelation. 

There  was  sometimes  a  lyric  rapture  in  her  utter- 
ance that  wrought  her  hearers  into  a  delirium  of 
anticipation.  The  New  Jerusalem  of  the  twentieth 
century,  the  transfigured  homes  of  a  new  common- 
wealth, seemed  to  be  so  near  and  so  real.  And 
there  was  always,  when  she  talked  to  women  and  to 
men,  such  a  sublime  confidence  in  their  latent  nobil- 
ity, and  their  ultimate  righteousness,  that  for  a  time, 
at  least,  they  became  in  their  own  eyes  the  beings 
that  she  pictured  them,  and  sat  enchanted  with  the 
revelation.  This  blending  of  prophetic  ecstasy 
with  practical  shrewdness,  of  rapture  with  woman's 
wit,  gave  to  her  tongue  the  accent  of  both  worlds. 
The  note  of  gladness  with  which  she  mentioned 
Christ  (and  she  did  it  often)  lifted  her  auditors  into 
the  presence  of  her  divine  Companion,  and  then  the 
childlike  mockery  with  which  she  pelted  some 
feminine  folly,  or  some  masculine  stupidity,  dissolved 
the  splendor  again  into  ripples  of  human  merriment 
that  brought  her  listeners  safely  back  to  mother 
earth.  Webster  was  majestic;  in  the  days  of  his 
grandeur  men  trembled  at  his  godlike  flashes. 
Beecher  was  superbly  human,  conquering  and  con- 


336  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

trolling  multitudes  by  his  rich  and  robust  and  royal 
manhood.  Wendell  Phillips  was  demonic,  casting 
his  auditors  into  chains,  and  arousing  within  them 
all  the  elemental  passions.  But  Frances  Willard 
attracted  and  enchanted;  she  spake  as  never  man 
spake,  and  yet  with  the  charm  of  Him  who  conquer- 
ed the  grave  in  order  to  restore  the  shattered  home 
at  Bethany. 

The  Willard  children  had  a  genius  for  organiza- 
tion; they  played  at  forming  clubs  and  making 
societies.  Frances  developed  this  skill  during  her 
years  of  teaching.  She  managed  her  pupils  with 
rare  tact,  choosing  for  them  both  the  direction  and 
the  method  of  activity.  But  the  fullness  of  this 
power  never  revealed  itself  until  she  became  the 
president  of  the  National  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  in  1879.  She  stood  for  a  liberal 
and  a  radical  policy,  and  was  indeed  the  incarna- 
tion and  the  inspiration  of  it.  Of  the  multiplied 
energies  that  began  to  cluster  around  her  fertile 
brain  and  nimble  fingers,  I  have  no  time  to  tell. 
They  proved  too  many  for  her  at  the  last,  exacting 
as  they  did  a  superhuman  strength  of  mind  and  will, 
and  pulling  at  her  heartstrings  all  the  time. 

It  was  natural  for  Mr.  Gough  to  confine  his 
philanthropic  efforts  to  the  temperance  work  and 
to  the  principle  of  total  abstinence;  it  was  equally 
natural  for  Henry  George  to  expect  the  regeneration 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE     337 

of  society  from  purely  economic  change.  But 
Frances  Willard's  mind  was  at  once  too  broad  and 
too  deep,  and  her  conception  of  woman's  place  in 
society  too  exalted,  for  her  to  grasp  the  temperance 
problem,  or  the  economic  problem,  in  this  one-sided 
fashion.  "Society,"  she  rightly  said,  "needed 
mothering."  She  was  indeed  a  preacher  of  tem- 
perance and  of  a  new  commonwealth;  but  she  was 
also  the  soul  of  chastity,  heralding  a  nobler  mater- 
nity than  the  world  had  dared  to  dream  of  hitherto; 
and  therefore  the  herald  of  a  nobler  manhood,  a 
nobler  society,  and  a  nobler  humanity. 

Like  all  idealists  in  the  history  of  social  progress, 
she  took  little  account  of  time,  so  that  the  results  of 
future  centuries  seemed  as  the  stars  dd  to  the 
children  of  transparent  skies,  just  above  her  head. 
And  this  immediateness  of  the  heavenly  vision  made 
it  possible  for  her  to  work  and  to  tarry  for  it.  She 
knew  that  it  would  surely  come. 

Did  she  die  too  early?  God  must  answer  that, 
not  we.  She  might  have  lived  longer,  if  she  had 
learned  to  spare  herself,  but  then  she  might  have 
lived  less.  Her  fiftv-eight  years  were  rich  in  expe- 
rience and  in  thought,  in  grief  and  in  aspiration, 
in  affection  and  admiration  and  achievement.  They 
were  indeed  more  than  centuries  of  common  life. 
They  were  for  her  "years  of  enduring  conflict  for 
others";  for  she  was  a  worker,  a  fighter,  a  woman. 


338  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

And  the  shock  of  her  death  reveals  the  weight  of  her 
influence.  She  is  no  longer  a  voice  and  a  corporeal 
enchantment,  weaving  about  us  the  spell  of  a  lumin- 
ous conscience  and  a  pure  heart.  She  has  taken 
her  place  in  the  choir  invisible  —  the  choir  audible 
forever  to  God  and  to  humanity.  Whatever  may- 
be the  future  of  the  methods  from  which  she  expect- 
ed such  political  and  social  transformations,  her 
ideal  of  home  will  not  perish  from  the  earth.  The 
strong  and  serious  women  of  the  future  will  be  her 
daughters,  and  as  they  bow  the  more  to  reason  and 
to  conscience,  her  image  and  her  voice  will  guide 
them  from  the  shadows  of  ancient  bondage  to  a 
companionship  with  men  in  which  the  perfect  inter- 
change of  thought,  and  the  perfect  harmony  of  action, 
will  reshape  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  establish 
beneath  new  stars  a  whiter  and  a  happier  common- 
wealth. 


Miss  Willard  as  a  Woman  and  a  Friend 
rev.  charles  f.  bradley,  d.  d. 

It  was  thought  fitting  that  the  tributes  to  Miss 
Willard  as  a  public  leader  should  be  followed  by  a 
few  words  concerning  her  as  a  woman  and  a  friend. 

Yet  it  is  impossible  to  mark  here  a  well-defined 
separation.  In  a  rare  degree  she  threw  her  whole 
self  into  all  her  work.     It  was  as  a  woman  and  a 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      339 

friend  that  she  taught,  wrote,  spoke,  organized  vast 
forces  and  led  them  in  the  war  for  righteousness. 
In  pubHc  as  in  private  Hfe  she  was  ever  womanly, 
and  always  friendly.  The  wealth  of  her  regnant 
nature,  the  fruits  of  her  varied  culture,  the  consecra- 
tion of  her  devoted  life  —  all  these  she  carried,  with 
her  simple  graciousness,  into  the  intimacies  of  pri- 
vate life.  The  mourning  of  millions  to-day  is  over 
the  loss  from  our  midst  of  a  great  woman,  and  a 
friend  of  mankind  such  as  the  world  has  seldom 
known.  A  certain  Roman  Catholic  sisterhood  bears 
the  affecting  title  of  "Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor." 
Of  Miss  Willard  it  may  be  truly  said  that  she  was 
the  sister  of  everyone,  rich  or  poor.  Everywhere 
she  went  she  met  people  with  a  winning  smile  and  a 
cordially  extended  hand.  She  believed  profound- 
ly that  God  is  our  Father  and  that  we  are  all  brothers 
and  sisters.  These  beliefs  were  to  her  more  than 
articles  of  an  accepted  creed;  far  more  than  beauti- 
ful sentiments.  They  were  the  controlling  princi- 
ples of  her  daily  life.  Beyond  any  woman  of  her 
age,  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  of  any  age,  she  has  a 
right  to  the  title  of  the  Sister  of  Man.  Everything 
which  that  name  can  signify  of  wise,  strong,  and 
loving  helpfulness,  that  she  was  in  purpose  and, 
according  to  the  measure  of  her  strength,  in  fact 
to  all. 

Yet,  speakmg  of  friendship  in  its  ordinary  sense, 


340  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

it  is  difficult  to  conceive  the  extent  of  her  circle  of 
friends ;  to  estimate  the  numbers  of  those  in  England 
and  America  and  in  other  lands,  who  have  the  right 
to  say  of  her,  "She  was  my  friend."  It  was  out  of 
a  wide  experience  that  she  framed  the  new  beatitude, 
"Blessed  are  the  inclusive,  for  they  shall  be  includ- 
ed." One  who  knew  her  well  has  said:  "In  nothing 
is  she  more  marked  than  in  her  lavish  kindness  and 
truth  to  friends.  It  would  be  impossible  to  say  how 
many  lives  which  have  touched  hers  have  been  in- 
spired to  nobler  purposes;  have  realized  the  balm 
of  her  sympathy  in  sorrow,  and  the  help  of  her  wis- 
dom in  perplexity;  have  proved  that  even  her 
wounds  are  the  faithfulness  of  a  friend  whose  very 
loyalty  was  demanding  of  them  their  best." 

But  Miss  Willard  's  life  has  not  only  been  marked 
by  a  universal  friendliness,  and  blessed  by  a  liberal 
host  of  friends,  to  each  of  whom  she  gave  her  affec- 
tion in  rich  measure;  it  has  also  been  distinguished 
by  a  few  extraordinary  friendships.  It  is  not  the 
least  of  the  sorrows  of  this  hour  that  those  who  alone 
could  speak  adequately  of  the  deepest  things  are 
unable  to  speak  at  all.  Miss  Willard 's  love  for  her 
own  family  was  most  intense.  The  close  intimacies 
in  this  circle  were  with  her  sister,  her  mother,  and 
her  brother's  wife.  The  providences  which  ended 
these  close  associations  opened  the  way  to  two  others. 
One  of  these  began  in  New  England  twenty-one 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE     341 

years  ago.  Through  all  these  years,  amid  many 
vicissitudes,  it  has  never  failed  to  deepen  and 
strengthen.  It  is  worthy  a  place  among  the  few 
great  friendships  of  history.  The  other  friendship 
belongs  to  Old  England,  and  is  associated  with 
scenes  of  romantic  beauty.  It  united  women  of 
most  diverse  training,  but  alike  in  rare  talents  of 
mind,  and  one  in  their  active  sympathies  for  the  fallen 
and  the  oppressed.  When  we  consider  the  labors, 
the  sacrifices,  and  the  sorrows  which  Miss  Willard 
endured,  it  is  comforting  to  consider  the  sources  of 
light  and  joy  she  had  in  these  two  radiant  friend- 
ships. In  both  there  was  that  absolute  confidence, 
unfailing  affection,  and  utter  self-bestowal  which 
make  such  devotion  between  man  and  man,  or  wo- 
man and  woman,  shine  with  a  radiance  little  less 
than  divine. 

The  circumference  of  Miss  Willard 's  friendly 
sympathy  has  been  truly  said  to  have  included  the 
human  race.  Its  center  and  source  are  to  be  found 
in  Jesus  Christ.     Her  whole  life  shows  this. 

The  greatness  of  Miss  Willard 's  powers,  and  the 
clear  call  which  ordained  her  to  eminent  public 
leadership,  often  interfered  greatly  with  the  privileges 
of  home  and  social  life.  She  frequently  expressed 
her  sense  of  this  loss,  and  her  Evanston  friends  have 
sadly  missed  her  during  her  long  and  many  absences. 
But  we  could  never  doubt  the  loyalty  of  her  affection, 


342  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

and  we  have  never  failed  to  love  and  honor  her. 
"  When  I  go  home  to  Heaven,"  she  said  in  her  quaint 
way,  "I  wish  to  register  from  Evanston."  That, 
too,  was  our  wish  for  her.  This  was  her  home.  The 
most  sacred  memories  of  her  family  life  centered 
here.  The  most  potent  forces  in  her  education 
were  brought  to  bear  upon  her  here.  At  this  altar 
she  took  the  vows  she  kept  so  faithfully.  Here  she 
received  her  call  from  Heaven  and  went  forth  to 
raise  the  fallen,  to  strengthen  the  weak,  to  relieve 
the  oppressed.  We  gave  her  to  the  country  and  to 
the  world.  She  has  fought  a  good  fight;  she  has 
finished  her  course;  she  has  won  her  crown.  Her 
victory  the  world  knows.  And  the  world,  as  if  on 
waves  of  honor  and  grateful  affection,  brings  back, 
as  a  sacred  trust  to  this  city,  to  Rest  Cottage,  to 
this  altar,  to  our  hearts,  the  dear  form  which  was 
the  temple  of  so  much  power,  and  goodness,  and  love. 


Miss  Willard  as  an  Orator 
rev.  frank  w.  gunsaulus,  d.  d.,  ll.  d. 
We  are  constantly  told  that  the  art  and  practice 
of  oratory  are  declining,  and  that  the  triumphs  of 
eloquence  which  have  marked  the  history  of  earlier 
times  have  not  been  repeated  in  recent  years.  It 
is  an  interesting  fact,  in  the  presence  of  such  a  mis- 
statement, that  Frances  E.  Willard 's  career  would 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE     343 

have  been  fragmentary  and  unproductive  of  much 
of  its  fairest  fruitage,  if,  in  addition  to  her  large 
gifts  of  an  administrative  order,  she  had  not  pos- 
sessed and  exercised  that  congeries  of  varied  and 
often  dissimilar  powers  which  are  the  prerequisites 
of  true  eloquence.  If  theatrical  display  and  vio- 
lence of  enunciation,  even  though  it  be  applauded 
by  a  throng  of  people,  or  combined  with  the  for- 
tuitous enthusiasm  of  a  great  occasion,  be  called 
oratory,  then  surely  this  woman  was  not  an  orator. 
If  ornament  of  expression  must  race  with  volubility 
of  utterance  in  order  that  a  speaker  may  produce 
effective  speech,  if  brilliancy  of  imagery  and  simu- 
lated emotion  must  be  added  to  these  to  win  the 
triumph  in  such  a  great  name  as  eloquence,  then, 
indeed,  Frances  E.  Willard  secured  not  a  single 
trophy  for  herself  in  this  field,  nor  is  she  to  be  named 
among  women  conspicuous  for  eloquence.  But  if 
a  great  heart,  fed  by  fiery  streams  from  on  high, 
glowing  and  molten  with  burning  love  for  humanity, 
issuing  forth  its  indignant  denunciation  of  evil, 
pouring  out  incessant  streams  of  argument  against 
well-dressed  error  and  fashionable  wrong,  kindling 
with  lightning-like  heat  thousands  of  fellow-beings 
until  they  also  flash  to  holy  wrath  which  scathes 
the  slayer  and  illumines  the  slain;  if  lifting  millions 
of  human  beings  from  out  the  noise  and  dullness  of 
unreason  into  the  serene  radiance  of  reason,  so  that 


344  FRANCES   E.  WILLARD 

they  are  willing  to  obey  the  highest  ideals  and  to 
serve  at  any  cost  the  noblest  demands  of  humanity 
and  God;  if  these  be  of  the  characteristics  or  results 
of  eloquence,  then,  without  doubt,  Frances  Willard 
must  be  considered  one  of  the  most  eloquent  of  the 
orators  of  our  time. 

Her  voice  had  the  harmonious  swell,  the  exquisite 
flexibility,  the  varied  richness,  the  height  and  depth 
which  made  her  capable  at  all  times  of  touching 
into  response  almost  every  string  in  human  nature. 
At  Baltimore,  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  college  presi- 
dents, who  has  made  a  comprehensive  study  of  the 
forces  of  eloquence,  heard  her  for  an  hour  and  a 
half,  and  remarked,  at  the  close  of  her  address: 
"The  cause  which  she  represents  touches  every 
interest  of  the  human  soul  and  body,  and  she  has 
applied  its  persuasive  appeal  to  every  quality  and 
concern  of  my  personality."  It  was  a  remarkable 
audience  —  more  than  a  thousand  of  her  sisters  in 
her  chosen  work,  hundreds  of  restless  and  eager 
college  students,  scores  of  doubtful  conservatives 
and  unemotional  educators,  long  serried  ranks  of 
men  and  women  standing  on  their  feet,  who  had 
"just  come  to  hear  a  woman  slash  into  things";  but 
it  is  doubtful  if,  in  that  hour's  utterance,  there  was 
not  wakened  in  each  soul  some  profound  sympathy, 
first  for  her  who  made  music  in  each  soul's  particular 
key,  and  then  for  the  cause  which  seemed  at  first 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      345 

to  each  one  a  personal  affair,  and  was  indeed  as 
wide  as  humanity  itself. 

The  writer  of  these  words  remembers  the  honor 
he  had  of  taking  Wendell  Phillips,  when  his  step 
was  infirm  and  his  health  frail,  to  hear  Miss  Willard. 
Mr.  Phillips  was  particularly  struck  with  the  "so- 
briety of  this  fiery  temperance  woman,"  and  all  the 
way  home  he  talked  of  the  great  temperance  speakers 
of  the  world.  It  was  his  amazement  that  such  ad- 
mirable gifts  of  administration  should  have  been  so 
subtly  interpenetrated  with  so  poetic  an  enthusiasm 
and  so  earnest  an  optimism.  He  had  spoken  only 
a  short  time  before,  in  the  midst  of  the  associations 
of  culture,  and  before  an  audience  most  of  whom 
were  stung  to  anger  by  the  old  man's  scorching 
irony  and  withering  sarcasm.  In  that  address  he 
had  uttered  memorable  statements  with  respect  to 
the  imperial  importance  of  the  temperance  cause, 
and  in  his  effort  to  commend  that  cause  to  fashion- 
able scholarship  he  had  commanded  and  blasted 
and  flamed.  When  he  was  told  that  Miss  Willard's 
manner  —  her  repose  of  strength,  the  consciousness 
she  exhibited  of  reserved  power,  her  wit  and  wisdom, 
her  triumphant  certainty  of  ultimate  success  — 
brought  to  mind  his  own  cliaracteiistics  as  a  public 
speaker,  he  proceeded  to  say  that  no  man,  possessing 
the  heart  to  feel  the  fountains  of  tears  behind  Miss 
Willard's  speech,   could  have  kept  his  steadiness 


346  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

and  practiced  such  restraint  upon   his  emotions. 
"  It  takes  a  woman  to  do  that,"  he  said.     He  laughed 
dryly  as  he  continued:   "Ah,  yes!     But  she  is  only, 
one  of  the  weaker  vessels,  as  we  are  told." 

Accosted  the  next  day  by  an  autograph  hunter, 
who  was  held  by  the  old  man  far  toward  the  night, 
as  he  showed  him  relics  of  the  abolitionists  and  mem- 
orials of  his  own  labors,  he  was  about  to  bid  the 
young  man  good  evening,  when  the  latter,  half 
patronizingly,  said:  "Mr.  Phillips,  I  think  if  I  had 
lived  in  your  time,  I  would  have  been  heroic,  too." 
Phillips,  as  he  stood  on  the  doorstep,  pointed  to 
the  open  places  of  iniquity  near  his  dwelling  place, 
and  said:  "Young  man,  you  are  living  in  my  time, 
and  in  God's  time.  Did  you  hear  Frances  Willard 
last  night.'^  Be  assured,  no  man  would  have 
been  heroic  then  who  is  not  heroic  now.  Good 
night." 

John  G.  Whittier,  the  old  Quaker  poet,  was  right 
when  he  said  of  Miss  Willard:  "I  always  want  to 
tell  her,  'Thee  must  know  thee  is  great  only  as  thy 
cause  makes  thee  great.  Thee  might  be  only  a  lot 
of  good  qualities  if  thee  had  not  been  fused.'  "  It 
is  true  the  commanding  cause  held  her  intellectual 
and  spiritual  and  physical  powers  in  unity,  and 
actually  fused  them  into  a  white  heat,  which,  how- 
ever, never  left  the  bounds  of  safety  save  in 
radiance. 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE      347 

Frances  Willard's  Mission  and  Message 
bishop  frank  m.  bristol.  d.  d. 

With  a  spirit  as  dauntless  as  it  was  exquisite  in  its 
refinement,  and  elegant  in  its  tastes,  Frances  E. 
Willard  lifted  her  beautiful  life  to  God  in  as  complete 
a  consecration  as  ever  made  a  heroine  or  a  saint. 
Then,  panoplied  with  the  armor  of  righteousness 
white  and  glistening,  she  went  forth,  the  Joan  of 

« 

Arc  of  Temperance,  to  battle  for  God,  and  home, 
and  native  land. 

She  could  not  be  happy  in  ease  and  seclusion  while 
she  was  conscious  of  a  larger  duty,  a  duty  that 
transcended  all  her  dreams  of  self-interest  and 
personal  enjoyment.  Looking  out  from  the  elms, 
out  of  the  windows  of  Rest  Cottage,  she  had  a  vision 
and  a  dream  of  possibility,  of  the  task  of  rescue  and 
reform,  and  of  the  need  of  hearts  and  brains  and 
hands  to  take  up  and  perform  the  task. 

"So  many  worlds,  so  much  to  do. 
So  little  done,  such  things  to  be." 

Thus  came  the  thought  to  her,  and  from  her  comes 
the  message  to  us  all:  "The  holy  place  to-day  is  not 
found  in  the  sanctuary  or  on  the  mountain,  in  the 
cell  of  the  monastery,  in  the  sweet  quiet  of  ease  and 
culture,  in  Rest  Cottage,  but  the  holy  place  is  in  the 
life  of  humanity,  in  the  midst  of  the  world's  sorrow, 
and  wrongs,  and  struggles,  in  the  center  of  society. 


348  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

in  the  great  heart  of  the  age.  There  is  thy  work,  thy 
mission.  From  that  holy  place  alone  can  man  or 
woman  pray  to  be  heard,  worship  to  be  accepted, 
believe  to  be  saved."  So  this  noble  woman,  this 
great  soul  of  light,  stepped  down  into  the  midst  of 
the  sorrow,  wrong,  and  strife,  and  there  broke  the 
alabaster  box  and  poured  the  rich  gifts  of  purity, 
love,  and  hope  upon  the  sick  heart  of  the  world. 

With  all  the  brilliancy  of  her  wit,  and  all  the  eager- 
ness and  keenness  of  her  superb  intellectuality, 
Frances  Willard  was  a  simple,  unaffected,  devout 
Christian.  The  faith  of  her  girlhood  ripened  into 
the  hope  and  sweet  charity  of  her  great  womanhood. 
A  tender  affection,  which  was  the  very  poetry  and 
sanctity  of  love,  made  home  an  emblem  and  proph- 
ecy of  heaven,  the  holiest  spot  on  earth  to  her. 
Rest  Cottage,  in  beautiful,  classical  Evanston,  was 
the  center  of  the  world  to  her  heart.  But  when  her 
loved  ones  vanished  one  by  one  from  her  side,  God 
was  saying:  "There  is  a  wider  home  for  your  affec- 
tion; thou  art  the  daughter  of  mankind,  the  sister  of 
the  world."  Manhood  never  had  a  truer  human 
friend  than  Frances  Willard.  To  save  that  manhood 
in  the  flowering  promise  and  glory  of  its  youth  was 
her  beautiful,  heroic  mission.  She  saw  how  the 
saloon  was  rising  up  to  smite  the  heart  and  brain, 
the  virtue  and  intellect,  of  American  manhood,  and 
with  all  the  courage,  devotion,  and  love  of  as  splendid 


IN  MEjSIORY  of  a  great  life     349 

a  womanhood  as  God  ever  inspired,  she  unfurled  the 
banner  of  purity,  and  unsheathed  the  gleaming 
sword  of  her  eloquent  convictions,  to  rescue  that 
manhood  from  shame. 

As  a  speaker  she  possessed  all  the  essential  gifts 
and  graces  of  persuasion.  Her  convictions  were 
eloquence.  Her  very  instincts  were  logic.  Her 
womanliness  was  moral  magnetism.  Elegant  in 
diction,  clear  as  a  mountain  stream  in  her  thoughts, 
her  fancy  fairly  scintillating  with  beauty  and 
originality,  intense  but  self-restrained,  sincere  but 
not  harsh,  strong  but  never  coarse,  commanding  but 
never  domineering,  forceful  but  never  masculine, 
she  preserv'ed  that  delicate,  indefinable  charm  of 
womanliness  in  her  public  career,  which  ever  im- 
presses American  manhood  with  a  reverence  next 
to  that  which  he  owes  and  renders  unto  God. 

When  we  sum  up  the  life  of  a  genius,  we  ask, 
"What  was  his  or  her  great  dominating  love.''" 
This  must  be  the  criterion  of  the  character,  however 
immeasurable  the  genius. 

We  know  that  Sappho  loved  her  song,  and  Angelo 
loved  his  art,  that  Mozart  loved  the  harmonies,  that 
Napoleon  loved  the  sword,  that  Wordsworth  loved 
the  flowers,  streams  and  hills,  and  Newton  loved  the 
stars  of  heaven,  but  Frances  Willard,  with  all  her 
fine  tastes,  liberal  education,  and  splendid  intellect- 
uality, loved  humanity.     Above  all  art  and  song, 


350  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

above  all  pomp  and  power,  above  all  science  and 
nature,  she  loved  humanity,  and  gave  herself  to 
humanity,  as  others  had  given  themselves  to  pleas- 
ure, to  fame,  to  science,  art  and  learning.  In  her 
work  for  humanity,  we  find  the  achievements  of  her 
fine  genius.  Her  poems  are  hearts  made  purer  and 
happier  by  her  ministry  of  love  and  sisterhood. 
Her  pictures  are  lives  transformed  and  glorified 
with  a  new  hope.  Her  harmonies  are  families  re- 
united and  homes  restored  to  joy.  Her  discoveries 
are  the  souls  found  in  darkness  and  brought  to  the 
light  of  God.  Her  conquests  are  the  better  senti- 
ments, holier  purposes,  cleaner  customs,  and  more 
righteous  laws,  which  are  slowly  but  surely  and 
inevitably  destroying  the  drink  habit,  crushing 
the  rum  power,  and  emancipating  our  country  and 
humanity  from  its  moral  slaveries. 

Not  alone  to  those  who  devote  themselves  to  the 
holy  cause  of  temperance,  but  to  all  who  would 
serve  humanity,  and  lead  the  world  to  Christ  and 
light,  does  the  life  of  Frances  Willard  become  a  mes- 
sage of  inspiration.  More  and  more  did  she  come 
to  recognize  the  fact  that  to  save  humanity  you  must 
save  its  womanhood. 

Frances  Willard's  mission  and  message  were  to 
call  the  Christian,  American  womanhood  of  this  age 
up  to  its  noblest  rights,  its  highest  ideals,  its  most 
self-sacrificing  ministry  of  love,  its  grandest  pos- 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE     351 

sibilities  of  power  and  usefulness.  Hence  all  re- 
forms, all  charities,  all  missions,  controlled  by  the 
new  womanhood  ha\e  felt,  and  will  ever  feel,  the 
charm  and  inspiration  of  Frances  Willard's  character 
and  life. 

One  of  the  characteristics  and  chief  glories  of  that 
splendid  life  was  its  unfailing  and  infectious  optim- 
ism. Frances  Willard  never  lost  faith  in  the  ulti- 
mate triumph  of  the  temperance  reform.  Her  faith 
in  God  and  justice,  in  humanity  and  right,  filled 
her  heart  with  the  prophecy  of  victory.  Her 
glorious  hope  and  magnificent  courage  have  thrilled 
the  exultant  souls  of  thousands,  and  given  new 
emphasis  to  the  grand  old  proverb:  "What  woman 
wills,  God  wills." 

Surely  the  magnetism  and  inspiration  of  that  life 
have  not  passed  away.  Still  do  thousands  say  as 
they  recall  their  glorious  leader: 

"Some  novel  power 
Sprang  up  forever  at  a  touch. 
And  hope  could  never  hope  too  much 
In  watching  thee  from  hour  to  hour." 

To-day,  and  evermore,  her  name  belongs  to 
the  world's  history  of  heroism  —  it  is  the  her- 
itage of  every  hoping,  aspiring  heart  and  people  — 
it  is  the  name  we  love  and  honor  —  Frances  E. 
Willard. 


352  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

A  Prophetess  of  Self-Renunciation 

REV.   NEWELL  DWIGHT   HILLIS,   D.   D. 

Our  city  has  just  buried  one  of  its  noblest  daugh- 
ters, whose  achievements  for  God  and  home  and 
native  land  were  such  as  to  rank  her  as  one  of  the 
most  famous  women  of  this  century.  Only  those 
who  have  lingered  long  over  her  books  and  essays, 
or  have  passed  under  the  full  spell  of  her  luminous 
speech,  or  have  considered  her  wide-reaching  influ- 
ence upon  our  education,  our  civic  institutions,  can 
understand  why  it  is  that  two  continents  mourn  for 
our  prophetess  of  self-renunciation.  When  Mme. 
De  Stael  and  George  Eliot  were  borne  to  the  tomb, 
it  could  not  be  said  of  these  daughters  of  genius  that 
in  a  thousand  towns  and  cities  the  multitudes 
assembled  in  church  or  hall  to  sit  with  bowed  heads 
and  saddened  hearts,  keeping  a  sacred  tryst  with 
memory  during  that  solemn  hour  when  afar  off 
memorial  words  were  being  spoken  above  the  silent 
dead.  Last  Wednesday  morning,  midst  falling  snow 
and  sleet,  when  the  gray  dawn  was  passing  over  the 
city,  the  funeral  car  of  Frances  Willard  drew  slowly 
into  the  station.  The  long  sidewalks,  the  vast 
building  itself,  the  outer  squares  and  streets,  were 
thronged  and  crowded  with  a  multitude  assembled 
to  meet  the  body  of  a  woman  whose  life  and  words 
and  spirit  had  helped  redeem  them  to  the  higher  life. 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE     353 

and  made  the  years  worth  living.  Then  all  day  long 
the  multitudes  surged  and  thronged  into  the  hall 
that  bore  her  name,  until  fully  30,000  people  had 
passed  in  and  out. 

Beside  that  bier  also  stood  pilgrims  from  Florida 
and  from  two  other  Southern  states,  people  of  wealth, 
united  to  this  woman  by  no  blood  ties,  but  who  in 
their  homes  of  luxury  felt  themselves  to  be  her 
debtors.  These  having  made  their  way  unto  this 
clime  of  ice  and  snow,  that  they  might  look  for  a 
moment  upon  the  face  of  one  who  had  increased  their 
happiness  and  lessened  their  misery,  made  their  way 
back  unto  the  land  of  fruits  and  flowers,  where  they 
hope  again  to  gain  their  health.  If  titled  folk  of 
foreign  cities  cabled  sympathy  and  sent  wreaths  and 
flowers,  the  children  of  poverty  and  suffering  also 
crowded  the  streets  along  that  line  of  funeral  march. 
The  death  of  what  private  individual  since  Abraham 
Lincoln's  time  has  called  forth  a  thousand  memorial 
funeral  services  upon  the  afternoon  of  one  day.'' 
The  time  is  not  yet  come  for  the  analysis  of  Frances 
Willard's  character  or  for  the  full  exhibition  of  her 
mental  and  moral  traits.  Among  her  divine  gifts 
must  be  included  a  body  firmly  compacted  and  of 
unique  endurance,  yet  delicately  constituted  as  an 
aeolian  harp;  a  voice  sweet  as  a  flute,  yet  heard  of 
thousands;  rare  common  sense;  strength  of  reason 
and  memory;  singular  insight  into  human  nature; 


354  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

intuitive  knowledge  of  public  men  and  measures; 
tact,  sympathy,  imagination,  enthusiasm,  with  a 
genius  for  sacrifice  and  self-renunciation.  Early 
successful  as  an  authoress,  highly  honored  with 
position  or  rank  in  the  realm  of  higher  education,  she 
turned  her  back  upon  all  offers  of  promotion. 

The  measure  of  a  career  is  determined  by  three 
things:  First,  the  talent  that  ancestry  gives;  second, 
the  opportunity  that  events  offer;  third,  the  move- 
ments that  the  mind  and  will  conceive  and  compel. 
Doubtless  for  Frances  Willard  ancestry  bestowed 
rare  gifts,  and  the  opportunity  was  unique,  but  that 
which  her  mind  and  heart  compelled  is  beyond  all 
measurement.  As  in  times  past  orators  have  used 
the  names  Howard  and  Nightingale  for  winging 
their  words,  so  for  all  the  ages  to  come  editors  and 
publicists  and  speakers  will  hold  up  the  name  of 
Willard  for  the  stimulus  and  inspiration  of  humanity. 


To  convey  an  entirely  adequate  impression  of  a 
character  so  unique,  so  gifted,  so  lofty  of  aim  and 
glorious  in  achievement,  would  be  an  impossible 
task.  Sprung  from  a  long  and  gracious  race,  her 
childhood  and  youth  singularly  shielded  and  trained 
for  her  great  after-service,  educated  in  lines  calculat- 
ed to  give  a  generous  opening  of  mind  and  profundity 
of  conviction,  capable  of  great  indignation  against 
wrong-doing  while  retaining  the  utmost  spirit  of  love 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE     355 

toward  the  wrong-doer,  with  a  divine  art  of  drawing 
out  the  noblest  side  of  every  soul  she  touched, 
Frances  E.  Willard  remains  to-day,  as  in  her  earthly 
form,  the  "best  known  and  best  loved"  among 
women  reformers  of  her  time — a  memory  sanctified 
and  endeared  in  the  hearts  of  all  those  who  care  for 
the  well-being  of  the  world. 


356  FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 

TRANSFIGURED 

REV.   MILTON  S.  TERRY.  D.   D.,   LL.  D. 

Is  that  soft  light  a  star? 
Or  through  the  dimness  of  our  tearful  eyes 
Are  we  descrying  in  the  open  skies 

Some  lovelier  sight  afar? 

Perhaps  to  us  is  given 
Another  vision  of  that  wondrous  sign 
Revealed  of  old  to  St.  John,  the  divine. 

When  in  the  open  heaven 

By  angels  guarded  round, 
Was  seen  a  woman  with  the  sun  arrayed, 
The  moon  beneath  her  feet,  and  her  fair  head 

With  twelve  stars  brightly  crowned. 

I'm  sure  I  see  a  light 
That  beckons  many  to  a  holier  sphere. 
And  with  its  steady  shining,  calm  and  clear. 

There  seems  to  be  no  night. 

'Tis  the  transfigured  face 
Of  saintly  gifted  Prophetess  serene, 
Whose  woman-soul  could  take  of  things  unseen 

And  give  them  sightly  grace. 


IN  MEMORY  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE    357 

To  her,  God 's  love  assigned. 
Amid  the  rush  of  human  cares  and  fears, 
Nigh  threescore  beautiful  and  hallowed  years 

To  honor  womankind. 

Say  not,  "She  is  not  here"; 
Methinks  her  eye  beams  with  a  brighter  ray, 
And  never  mightier,  sweeter,  than  to-day 

Was  her  voice,  far  or  near. 

And  woman's  rights  and  wrongs, 
And  mortal  sorrows,  and  the  drunkard's  woes, 
And  virtue's  claims,  by  her  life's  sudden  close 

Have  found  ten  thousand  tongues. 

Hushed  are  all  envies  now, 
Nor  breathes  the  soul  would  take  away  from  sight 
One  ray  of  the  aureole  of  light 

That  gathers  round  her  brow. 

O  pure  white  life  divine! 
Translated  into  everlasting  day, 
Thou  shalt  pass  never  from  our  hearts  away, 

For  Christ's  own  loves  were  thine. 


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